The Return of the Prodigal Wolf
by gempire
Summary: This is an indirect sequel to 'When the Snows Thaw' so the summary is inside to avoid spoilers.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer**

**Dedication: Normally I don't dedicate opening chapters to anyone but this time I will make an exception to give a big thanks to Alphabloodwolf who helped me on the title of this story because the one I had in mind was just, well crap. **

**Description: Tony Black is Quileute wolf that grew up away from the La Push Reservation where the wolves usually run. Now he's moving there, with his wife Grace and their daughter Magda in the hope of taking over the alpha reins from his uncle Hunter. However there are some in the pack who think he doesn't deserve to lead them because he has never really run with the packs and hasn't spent more than a month on the Res at a time. Can Tony convince them he has what it takes to lead them, or will he forever face hostility when the prodigal wolf returns…**

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It was late August and only eight in the evening, but my wife Grace had pointed out that if we made sure everything was packed in the car then we could catch an hour nap before we had to rush off to the airport. That was the trouble with the red eye; you had to leave at silly o'clock. I carried our cases down to the hall, putting them there for a moment so Grace could run an inventory once more. It was our first transatlantic flight together and the plane ride ever for our little girl Magda.

As I placed the bags down on the floor I sensed Magda behind me and I turned to find her dragging a bright pink suitcase down the stairs.

"Want me to get it Mags?" I asked going to help her before she damaged the banister.

"I'm ok Daddy." She said and put the suitcase next to Grace's and mine.

"What's that you got there?" I asked.

"I packed my case all on my own." She said proudly. "I thought it would help Mommy out when she was doing yours."

"You're my considerate big girl." Grace said as she came down the stairs and lifted Magda into her arms. "What did you pack?"

"Everything I would need for a week at Auntie Liza's farm." Magda replied.

"You're a very clever girl." Grace replied as she crouched down next to the case. "Want to show me what you packed?"

"Ok." Magda said with a grin as she laid the case down and zipped it open, it was full of toys and books. "See. Everything I need."

"Indeed." Grace replied, trying not to laugh. "Can I make a suggestion?"

"Ok Mommy." Magda agreed with a nod.

"Well Auntie Liza has a pool now, but you haven't got a swimming costume." She observed.

"No." Magda said with a frown.

"And what about clothes?"

"I'll need those too." Magda realised.

"Shall we go and pack your bag together while Daddy puts the other cases in the car?" Grace asked.

Magda nodded again and her pigtails bounced. Grace zipped Magda's case back up before carrying it upstairs Magda holding her hand all the way. I took the other cases out to the car and began arranging them in the trunk. I thought about how I wouldn't have this problem if we just took my truck but it only sat three and Uncle Masen was driving us to the airport so we wouldn't have to pay a parking fee. I didn't want to trust my truck to strangers anyway; she was old and deserved respect.

When I got back in the house I could hear Grace and Magda discussing the case.

"But Mommy I need to take little Ted to keep Salina company, and if Salina and Ted goes then Big Bear Balthazar has to come too as well as Bryony and Bridgett or it's just not fair. I can't take one and not the others." Magda was explaining.

"In that case, it's better you leave them all here. I'll ask Lilly to baby sit them for you." Grace suggested.

"But then Oggy will play with them and he won't play with them right because he's a boy and he said he was going to pull Salina's head off." Magda complained.

"When did he say that?" Grace asked in concern.

"Ages ago when we were babies." Magda said with a shrug.

"How about we ask Auntie Prue to baby sit?" Grace replied.

"She has that new baby to look after." Magda countered.

"Well I'm sure Uncle Tibbi and Zeke would help her." Grace observed.

Magda pouted for a moment, then brightened up.

"Zeke will look after them good." She declared. "Can I ask him now Mommy?"

_What shall we do? _Grace thought toward me and I carefully made sure Magda couldn't hear us with the telepathy she'd inherited off me.

_I'll take her over to Northern Heights while you pack her bag?_ I suggested.

_Good plan._ Grace agreed.

"Shall we go over now Mags?" I asked. "It'll save time."

"Ok." She said. "I'll just get their bag together so Zeke has everything he needs to look after them."

She was quick grabbing her backpack and filling it full of dolls clothes and her plastic tea set along with some plastic food.

"It wouldn't be right to expect Zeke to pay for their food too." She said, then thought about something before she went digging in her toy box and pulled out a plastic cash register. She pushed the button to open the drawer and pulled out the play money and stuffed it in the front pocket of the backpack. "In case he needs to buy anything for them."

"Very thoughtful." I observed.

Magda picked up her three dolls and two teddies, hugging them to her chest before looking at me expectantly.

"We won't be long." I promised Grace as I picked Magda up and carried her downstairs.

I didn't bother driving, instead I made sure Magda was comfortable in my arms before running the little woodland path that connected our house to the one owned by Grace's sister Prue. It was five miles between properties but that was nothing to my vamp-wolf physiology and we got there in a couple of minuets. Magda was giggling happily because she liked going so fast. It ran in the family, we were all speed junkies.

I called ahead with my mind to let Prue and Tibbi know I was coming up to the back of the house. Tibbi was protective of Prue and the handful of dhampir they now fostered. He wouldn't think twice about attacking anyone who caught him by surprise. But I didn't blame him, their foster kids were vulnerable, they'd already been through too much and they shouldn't get spooked.

Prue was waiting by the backdoor when we arrived and there was a little girl sitting on her hip. She looked about nine months, but she was a half vamp so it meant she was very young, maybe only a week or two old.

"Hey Mags, what brings you here tonight?" Prue asked.

"I came to ask Zeke if he would do me a favour." Magda replied as I carried her into the house.

"He's up in his room." Prue said, indicating with her head so I carried Magda through the house and up to Zeke's room.

Zeke was the first half vamp Prue and Tibbi had adopted. He'd been with them a year now and he definitely seemed part of the family. He was six months younger than my sister Billie, but in half vamp terms that was at least a year, maybe two. I thought he was catching up to her lately though. He could definitely pass for a fifteen year old now, and maybe they could pretend he was sixteen by the time school came around in September and he could join as a sophomore with Billie instead of going in the deep end on his own as a freshman.

I knocked on the door even though it was open just to let Zeke know he had visitors. He looked up from his drawing table, his dirty blond hair falling in his eyes because he'd suddenly decided that Masen's hair looked cool and wanted it long like his, and smiled in greeting but didn't say anything. He was shy, and rarely spoke and I didn't push him, I'd been crippled by shyness as a kid so I knew how much effort even that smile took. I stepped into the room and put Magda on the floor.

She dropped her toys and bounded over to Zeke, jumping up to wrap her arms about him in tight enough hug to suffocate a human.

_Zeke, I need your help._ She thought as she carried on hugging him taking advantage of the fact that I wouldn't encourage her to use her words out loud.

_With what?_ Zeke replied, taking advantage of Magda's telepathy because he had a hang up about making noise thanks to the bastards that had dragged him into slavery from the day he was born.

_I'm going to visit Auntie Liza's farm but there won't be room on the plane for everyone. Can you look after my babies for me until I get back?_ She asked.

_Of course little cousin._ Zeke replied fondly. _Where are they?_

_Over here._ Magda said, taking his hand and leading him to her toys.

_There's a lot of them._ Zeke observed. _They'll need a house._

Magda nodded.

Zeke smiled and ruffled her hair between her pigtails before he went to get a storage box off his shelves. He removed the papers that were inside and put them on the shelf before bringing the box over to Magda and he sat down cross-legged before putting the dolls and teddies in one by one, allowing Magda to say goodbye to each one. Once they were all in Zeke put the lid on the box but Magda looked at it sadly.

_It's a good box._ She thought._ But it's not really a house._

Zeke thought for a moment before shooting to his feet and he took a magic marker from his drawing table and quickly sketched a door and windows on to the front of the box.

_Is that better?_ He asked.

_Yes._ Magda replied. _It's a good house for them now._

Zeke smiled as he put the pen back on his table.

"Are you ready to go now Mags?" I asked.

"Yes Daddy." Magda said. "Thank you Zeke, you're a very kind boy."

"You're welcome." Zeke replied in one of the rare instances he actually used his voice around Magda.

"I'll send you a postcard." She promised. "With sheep on."

"Thank you." Zeke replied with a wide grin.

Magda nodded before she turned to leave, then stopped dead before turning back to Zeke.

"I almost forgot." She said, taking the bag from her back. "This has everything my babies will need."

Zeke nodded and he placed it next to his chair.

"There's money in there too if you need to buy anything for them."

_It won't be necessary._ Zeke assured her.

_Well if you need it it's there_. Magda replied. _I'll send you a postcard and bring you back a gift. I promise._

_I will see you in a week cousin._ Zeke said, trying to wind things up because he knew we had to go.

"Bye Zeke." I said, taking advantage of his words, before I took Magda's hand and led her down the stairs.

Prue was playing peek-a-boo with the little black half vamp baby who was giggling her head off every time Prue appeared from behind her hands.

"What's her name?" I asked.

"Moesha." Prue replied. "She didn't have a name when she was found and Tibbi liked the name." For some reason Jane is convinced Tibbi's mom was called that but she has no idea why. Something to do with some memory the Fire Twins took from her. I don't really know.

"You'll have to come by for a visit when we get back." I said and tickled Moesha's neck.

She turned to smile at me; she already liked it here better than the last place. Everyone smiled and gave her attention; she wasn't just put in a crib and forgotten about with the odd blood pack thrown in now and then.

"You'll be bigger when I get back so we can play some games." Magda said to Moesha. "Maybe we could go play in the big playroom at Grandma Essie's house."

Moesha liked thought of that and I could see a hundred play dates lined up for the future.

"And you can come too Ritchie." Magda said to the dark haired kid who looked about ten who just entered the atrium from the kitchen. "We can think of good games to play, all of us together."

"How do you know my name?" The kid asked.

"It's in your mind." Magda said with a giggle. "You're Ritchie Burton and you were born three years ago in the camp in Maine. Jane just rescued you and now you've come to live with Auntie Prue and you can be my cousin too."

"You read minds?" Ritchie asked with interest.

"Yeah. And I'll tell you all about it when I get back, but I got to go now. We're going on an aeroplane and we're gonna fly across a sea. It will be amazing. See you another time."

Magda said goodbye to Prue and gave her a hug, promising she'd send her a postcard, then we left. I picked Magda up again so I could carry her when I ran back to the Stables.

_Daddy, don't let the others know, but I'm taking Mr Tiggles_. She informed me.

Mr Tiggles was her stuffed wolf and her favourite of all her toys. She usually took him everywhere with her and I guess the only reason she didn't bring him now was in case she left him behind at Northern Heights. I didn't see why she couldn't bring him along, but she still had to realise there were rules and well I wasn't sure about our airline and it would be bad to get saddled with extra baggage fee for one little wolf.

_I won't._ I promised. _But you'll have to put him in your carry-on bag until we're on the plane._

_Ok_. She said. _But won't he suffocate?_

_Nah. Your bag is a special one that teddy wolves can sleep in_. I invented quickly.

Magda giggled as we reached the Stables and hugged my head.

_Silly Daddy, teddies don't sleep. I was just teasing you. I know it won't hurt Mr Tiggles cause he's a wolf. And when I'm on the plane I can take him out right?_ She asked.

_Yeah._ I agreed.

_Then I can show him out the window._ She said happily. _I will be sitting by the window won't I?_

_Mommy said I had to let you._ I replied as we walked into the Stables. "Now you got to try and get some sleep Mags."

"But it's still light out." She complained.

"I know. But our flight is early in the morning. You can sleep on the plane but we got to wait in the airport a while before we can board." I explained.

"Do I really need to go to sleep Mommy?" Magda asked as we entered the kitchen.

"Now Mags, we discussed this yesterday." Grace said firmly. "If you don't get some sleep now then you won't enjoy the flight."

"I do want to like it." Magda observed. "I guess I should go and nap. What time shall I set my alarm for?"

"Set it for half ten because we're leaving at eleven." Grace replied.

"Will do Mommy." Magda said with a mock salute, and then hugged Grace before hugging me. "Have pleasant dreams."

"I'll take you up to bed." Grace said as she lifted Magda into her arms and carried her up the stairs.

I took Magda's case out to store in the car before I made sure the doors were locked downstairs. I went upstairs and went to the bedroom I shared with Grace. We'd always been in the tower room, it had been Grace's room when she was growing up and she hadn't wanted to leave it. But when Prue moved out and Grace got pregnant with Magda she decided to move into her parents' old room. She wanted Magda to have the tower room because of how magical she found it growing up. It meant there was a lot of decorating to do in a short time, but it also meant we had a bigger room and Mags thought her room was a magic princess tower so it was worth it.

Grace came into the room just behind me and let me know Mags was definitely settling down to sleep she promised. I laughed as I imagined her saying it, although I doubted she would actually drop off. I could make her go to sleep if I wanted to, but Mom had used that on me once, and even though I understood why she did it, it made even more sense now when I thought about how I'd feel if Magda was running into danger, but I'd felt betrayed at the time and I didn't want Magda to feel that way. Not over something like this anyway.

_I'll keep an eye on her if you want to catch forty._ I stated. _I'll sleep on the plane. I'd prefer that anyway, you know what I'm like flying._

_Ok. But if Magda gets to sleep make sure you nap too._ Grace advised.

_I will._ I promised her and we kissed a moment before we got into bed since I could keep an eye on Mags from there.

As Grace snuggled down to sleep beside me I lay on my back with my hands behind my head and I traced the lines of the ceiling beams with my eyes. It was just something for my eyes to do as I kept my mind on Magda. She didn't drop off to sleep, but she did try to sleep and she didn't get out of bed either, that was good enough in my opinion. She'd probably sleep on the plane and even if she dropped off in the departure lounge I'd carry her onto the plane easy enough.

_Daddy you're not sleeping._ Magda stated.

_You're not either._ I replied.

_I'm too excited._ She said with Christmas whispers. _I'm going on a plane and to another country. It's gonna be amazing._

_It sure is._ I agreed figuring that there really wasn't a point telling her to go to sleep with only half hour before she had to get up anyway.

_Have you been in a plane before?_ She asked.

_A couple of times_. I replied.

_Have you been to Auntie Liza's farm?_ She asked.

_You know I haven't Mags. She's only been living there since last year_. I stated.

_But that's forever._ She observed, dragging out the forever for well ever.

_I guess you're right._ Since it was true from Magda's point of view. She might look like a six or seven, a very small eight year old at a stretch, but she was only a year old in March. I've never been to Britain at all so I'm excited to go to see it.

_Will we see where Grandpa Carlisle was born?_ Magda asked.

_No. We're not stopping in London, just changing planes. Auntie Liza will pick us up from the airport in Wales._ I explained.

_That's a funny name for a country when you think about it._ Magda thought with a laugh. _It's like the big sea mammals whales._

_It does sound like that._ I agreed. _But Wales is the English name for the country, the name in the Welsh language is Cymru._

_Do they speak English at all?_ Magda asked curiously.

_Well yeah, but you know Welsh anyway._ I pointed out.

_Oh yeah, Grandpa Tobias taught me last month_. Magda observed. I like learning languages from Grandpa.

_He's a good teacher._ I agreed.

The alarm went off and Grace stirred, reaching out to hit snooze.

"It's time to go. It's time to go." Magda sang as she ran into our room and jumped up on the bed. "We got to go to the airport now."

"You need to get dressed first." Grace stated.

"Oh yeah. I can't go on a plane in my pyjamas that would be silly." Magda chortled.

"I put your clothes out on your linen chest." Grace stated.

"I'll go put them on now Mommy and then we'll be going." Magda said with a wide excited grin.

Magda ran from the room and although Grace disapproved of Magda running in the house she didn't say anything because she knew how excited our daughter was about flying.

We got up and changed into comfortable clothes for the flight. I went downstairs and unlocked the back door as Uncle Masen reached it.

"Are you ready kid?" He asked.

"Everything's in the car, just got to do all the last minuet checks." I replied.

"Make sure everything is turned off?" He asked as he stepped into the kitchen, turned one of the ladder-back chairs around and sat on it backwards with effortless ease.

"Yeah." I said as I checked that everything in the kitchen was off.

"I'll come look in everyday to make sure it's all ok." Masen promised.

"Thanks." I said with a smile.

"Uncle Masen." Magda sang as she came down the back staircase and leapt into his arms, hugging him. "You came to take us to the airport."

"Yeah. Got to make sure y'all get off ok." He replied, sitting her up on the back of the chair.

"Can't you come too?" She asked.

"Well if I came who'd look after your house?" Masen asked.

"Auntie Prue." Magda said without thinking.

"I'll remember that next time hon." Masen replied with a wink.

"Magda, you need to brush your hair." Grace said as she came down the stairs too. "Come on, up on the chair. Hi Masen, you ok?"

"You know me Grace, I'm always happy." Masen said as he pulled one of the other chairs toward him and moved Magda so she stood on it.

"Glad to hear it." Grace said as she stepped up behind Magda before brushing her waist length dark hair and plaiting it expertly into one thick braid down her back.

After Grace tied a ribbon about the elastic Magda pulled it over her shoulder and grinned when she saw it was pink.

"Is your backpack ready?" Grace asked.

"I'll go get it." Magda said.

"And don't forget your jacket." Grace called up the stairs behind her. "Have you got everything?" She directed at me.

"I got my book for the plane and the hard boiled sweets Billie said we should get if Magda's ears start popping. Our passports and tickets are here and so is my wallet with pound notes for spending. Plus a change of underwear and a clean tee for our stop over in London." I replied.

"Good. Have you got your jacket?" She asked.

"I won't need it." I assured her.

"I know you don't need it, but we got to keep up appearances." She crooned as she stepped close to me.

"I'm a big macho man who thinks he can stand up to the cold." I said firmly.

"Well if you think you can pull it off." Grace teased as she placed her hand on my waist and kissed me.

"Well I know I'm a little on the weedy side, but if I give it enough conviction." I replied, equally joking because I'm a Quileute wolf and by definition means I'm a six foot eleven muscular giant warrior.

"Is everything right in my bag Mommy?" Magda asked as she came back to the kitchen and she handed her bigger backpack to Grace.

Grace took the bag and put it up on the table to look through it.

"It's all good Mags, but where's Mr Tiggles?" Grace asked.

"Do I have to put him in just yet?" Magda asked with a pout as she hugged the wolf to her chest.

Grace looked to me for a moment then smiled at Magda.

"Ok, we'll put him in when we get to the airport." Grace stated.

"Mr Tiggles is happy with that." Magda said, and nodded her head.

"So, are we all ready to go?" I asked.

"I think we are." Grace agreed.

"Then lets go." I said.

We all stepped outside and I locked up while Masen went to unlock the car so Magda and Grace could get in ready. Then I jumped in the back with my wife and daughter, something that wasn't so usual and Magda found it funny that all three of us were in the back.

Masen started the engine.

"Say goodbye to the house, we won't be back for a whole week." Grace said to Magda.

"Bye, bye house." Magda said, waving her hand as we left the small drive in front of the Stables and Masen drove us into the night toward SEA-TAC.

We arrived at the airport at half past eleven and after making sure Mr Tiggles was safe inside Magda's bag and saying goodbye to Masen, we made our way to check-in. We didn't have to wait as long as I thought, only quarter of an hour. I guess that was one of the advantages of flying at silly o'clock in the morning.

Magda was worried at first watching our luggage go along the conveyer belt, that they were stealing it or something, but Grace let her know that it was just going on the plane. Magda wondered if we would have to go on a conveyer too, and well the moving floors were kind of like them but I didn't answer her because I thought it would be a surprise.

We got through security ok, but Grace was pulled out for a frisking as a control. It was a little surprising because they usually pulled Native me out rather than Grace who was a blonde, blue-eyed beauty. Guess they were on a 'we're not racist honestly' drive again. Or maybe not, the guard who frisked Grace had recognised her as the author of Darktide and was contemplating asking for an autograph, but she didn't think it was appropriate after all. She just made do with getting a good close up look of Grace and her tall Native husband who the world and their mother now knew was the inspiration for the werewolf Brody in her best-selling fantasy novels.

Magda thought that having the wand moved over you looked fun and the frisking just looked like tickling to her. I told her not to volunteer herself, although I didn't add that she was likely to have her fair share when she was older since she had my colouration. Grace was there too, although it was more apparent in the shape of her oval face and the set of her eyes.

Grace was now rolling her light blue eyes at me, as she stepped away from the guard who was now running the wand over a woman in heavy jewellery who had set the detector off.

"I think she was after your autograph." I whispered to Grace as I placed my arm about her waist and took Magda's hand as we started walking toward the duty free.

"You think or you know?" Grace asked with a laugh.

"What's an autograph?" Magda asked.

"It's when you sign your name on a piece of paper because you're famous." I explained.

"Famous is when you done stuff that everyone knows about right?" Magda asked.

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"You're famous Mommy?" She asked in shock.

"Sort of." Grace said as we came to the bookstore and there was a whole stand dedicated to Darktide along with an almost full size author picture that Grace regarded with some annoyance. The publishers were really trying to push the whole series now Grace had finished writing it and she preferred people to just come across it on their own accord than have it rammed down their throats.

"Mommy, is that you?" Magda gasped, pointing up at the photo of Grace, it was an old one, from when she was still human because she was wearing glasses.

"Yeah." Grace said.

"Grace Pearson." Magda read on the spine of one of the books, then gasped. "You are a writer Mommy?"

Grace nodded.

"But I didn't know that." Magda said with a frown. "Can I read your books? You know I like to read."

"When you're older." Grace said.

"Why?" Magda asked, then giggled. "They are naughty books."

"Yes." Grace agreed, although usually she argued that they were quite extensive fantasy that happened to contain sex scenes.

I agreed with her on that, but a lot of the world dismissed them as chick-lit because that's how the publishers decided to market them. They probably thought the books wouldn't sell on their own merit or something. They had to think of a gimmick and it was hard to shake.

"Of course I could buy one and sign it and give it to the guard." Grace mused.

"She might think you're trying to bribe her." I replied.

"I guess." She laughed.

"Oh god." A woman gasped as she looked between Grace and her photo. "You're…You're her right. Grace Pearson?"

"Yes." Grace confirmed.

"I'm the biggest fan of your work." The woman gushed, though she was off the mark there, we knew Grace's number one fan, it was Dannan who was married to my mother's cousin Alex. "I just can't believe Darktide has come to an end, and what an ending. It was worth all the turmoil. Of course I didn't mind all those sex scenes, they were hot."

I quickly placed my hands over Magda's ears.

"It's been a roller coaster." Grace said. "And I'll happily talk to you over here, but my Magda is still a little young to know exactly what her mother writes about." She added with a wink.

"Oh…oh of course." The woman stammered.

I found the solution to the problem.

"Come on Mags, lets go find the kids section and you can choose a book to read on the plane." I stated.

"But I don't like k…" Magda began.

_You're six remember. Six year olds read brightly coloured books, maybe Roald Dahl if they're advanced enough._ I quickly reminded her telepathically.

"Who's he?" Magda asked.

"I didn't give you any of his books?" I asked, feeling shocked by this.

Magda shook her head.

"Well let's see." I said as I led her toward the kid's section.

I searched until I spotted the familiar illustrations that had always gone with Dahl's work. I think it would be sacrilege now to publish his work with an illustrator other than Quentin Blake. These books had been enthralling kids for over a hundred years and I didn't see why Mags should be left out.

She looked along the titles.

"I don't know what to read." She whispered.

"How about Matilda." I said, taking it off the shelf. "It's about a girl who likes to read."

"Great." Magda observed looking at the cover, but I knew it wouldn't last her the whole flight, even if she slept, so I let her pick out three more books before we took them to the register to pay.

A small crowd was now gathered around Grace getting free autographs.

"What's the quickest way to the London-Heathrow gate?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I phoned airport security, they'll be here with a cart to take you to the departure lounge now." The girl behind the counter said. "They're worried that if the crowd grows anymore there's gonna be an incident."

"Sorry. It happens a lot." I apologised. "Especially now they've started putting up that damn photo. Grace can't even pretend not to be her because people then see it as a challenge to prove their hunch."

"Don't worry, we've dealt with celebrities before." The girl said, almost blasé. "Next time let us know in advance and we can sneak you through security."

"I'll remember that next time." I said with a smile as I accepted my change and threw it straight in her tips jar.

There was a buzz of static and the shop assistant picked up her walkie-talkie.

She spoke into it then listened to the return message.

"If you just go stand with Grace then Matt will be here with the cart." She informed me.

"Thank you." I said, putting the books into my bag and I picked Magda up and carried her over to Grace who was becoming flustered. _We're gonna get a ride from security_. I told her.

_Great._ Grace replied. _I thought if I just signed one…_ She trailed off not to write that out on the book she was signing for a guy who's eyes kept travelling to me almost disbelieving that Brody was there.

Then one of those little golf cart things pulled up and a security guard stepped off.

"Ms Pearson if you and your family would care to step this way your flight is boarding." He stated indicating the cart.

"Thank you." Grace said with clear relief as I lifted Magda up onto the back facing seat.

There were groans from people who hadn't got autographs.

"I'm sorry but they can't hold up the flight for me." Grace said with an apologetic smile and she hopped up onto the back too.

I sat down on the side closest to all the people so I could fend them off if it came to it. But they didn't swarm after us as the security guy, who I guess was Matt, hit the gas and we sped off at, well it wouldn't be breaking any land speed records but we were beating the crowds. We were taken to a private room near the departure lounge.

"You can wait in here until your flight is called for boarding. If you need anything just use the phone there." Matt informed us.

"Thank you." Grace said. "You're a life saver."

"Well you might want to think of getting your own security detail." Matt replied.

"I usually don't need it." Grace stated. "I guess with it being the last year of Darktide things are more hectic than normal, but I haven't really been out of my home town other than when I've been promoting. It just seems so...well I'm just an author."

"I guess you'll figure something out. Have a nice flight Ms Pearson and I hope you and your family have a peaceful time for the rest of your stop here at SEA-TAC." Matt said with a salute before he left the room and got back on his cart.

"Where is the plane?" Magda asked once the door had closed.

"It's not time to board yet, but you can see them through this window. Look." I said, drawing her attention to the big plate glass window opposite the door that looked out over the airfield.

"They're really big." Magda gasped.

"Yep." I said.

"Is our one out there?" She asked.

"I think it's that one there." I ventured.

"Wow." Magda observed and I left her looking at the planes as I went to sit down next to Grace.

_Sorry about causing so much trouble._ Grace thought toward me sadly.

_You didn't cause it._ I said as I pulled her into a hug. _You can't help it if people want to get close to you._

_But if I'd never wrote those damn books in the first place..._ She thought angrily.

_I wouldn't have had anything that gave me at least a small amount of contact with you in all those lonesome years we had to spend apart when I was growing up properly._ I cut her off because I didn't want her to feel bad about it since it really wasn't her fault that people forgot that she had a private life too.

"When are we flying?" Magda asked as she still looked out the window to where they were loading the first load of luggage onto the plane.

"We take off at half four, but we should be boarding at four o'clock." I replied.

"Four o'clock in the morning?" Magda gasped. "Why did we have to come so early then?"

"To get through check-in and security." I replied. "It's already ten to one now."

"Wow. And all these people are all up and everything. Don't they sleep?" She said almost in disgust.

"In the day." I stated.

Magda nodded, then frowned, "Will it be day when we land?"

"It will actually be half eleven in the night there." I stated.

"We'll be flying for that long?" Magda demanded in shock.

"Only eleven hours." Grace confirmed.

"But won't that mean we should get there at half past three in the afternoon?" Magda asked with a frown.

"It will be half past three in the afternoon here, but in Britain it will be half past eleven in the night." Grace replied.

"They got different times there?"

"Remember what we said the world is like?" I asked.

"A big ball." Magda ventured.

"That's right." Grace replied.

"And it spins and the sun shines on one side and that side is day and the dark side is night and oh so I get it now. We're travelling so far that we'll be on a very different part of the ball." Magda observed.

"That's right." I agreed.

"Can you show me on the globe?" She asked.

"Liza probably has one." I stated.

"And if not we'll buy one. They're bound to have one at the museum." Grace added.

"I can't wait to visit all the museums and such." Magda replied. "Will they be like the ones we've been to here?"

"Well hopefully they'll be a little different." I said with chuckle.

"I guess we don't want to fly all that way just to see the same things." Magda mused as she came to sit in the chair next to Grace. "What's the time now?"

"There you go." Grace said, showing Magda her watch.

"Ten past one." Magda said after a small moment of calculation. "There's still loads to go yet."

"Why don't you read one of your new books?" I suggested.

Magda nodded and I pulled Matilda from my bag and handed it to her. She spent the next hour reading it through once. Then she read it through a second time. That took a little less time. She then reached into her bag and pulled out her writing pad and a felt tip pen and began doodling pictures, she'd got the drawing bug recently after spending some time with Zeke. Now she was creating her own pictures of scenes from the book, writing down the relevant passage underneath.

She looked at her writing for a long moment then turned to Grace with a frown.

"Will I be a writer too Mommy?" She asked.

"If you want to be sweetheart." Grace said softly, kissing Magda's head.

"How do you write?"

"You get an idea of what you want to write about and then write it." Grace said.

"Ok." Magda replied. "I could write about our trip."

"I'll be happy to read it later." Grace stated.

"Then I will write it as we're going. I'll use the rest of the time before our flight to write about the airport." Magda observed.

Magda turned to a clean page and started writing. She carried on right up until our flight was called. I put Matilda back in my bag while Grace helped Magda put the writing pad back into her backpack. I made sure our boarding passes were ready and we stepped out of the room and followed the signs to our gate.

We were flying first class, this had nothing to do with Grace's status, but the fact that my family was ridiculously rich. I didn't know exactly how much money Mom and Dad actually had, but I'd been given a nice little sum when I reached eighteen and since Grace and I lived well below our means we had a lot of cash to spare when we needed to splash out. First class was a necessity for me because I needed the legroom that just wasn't available in coach or even business.

Magda was ecstatic as we were directed into first class and we made our way to our seats.

"It's so fancy in here." She gasped. "Look at the seats. And I can see the airport terminal out of the window."

"Are you sure you want to sit by the window Mags?" I asked when we reached our row.

"I want to watch all the sky go past." She stated.

"Ok. Give me your bag." I instructed.

"But I want my things in the flight." She said in shock.

"You can have it back once we're in the air." Grace explained as she held out her hand. "But for take-off we have to store it overhead."

"Ok." Magda said and passed her bag to me.

I put it in the compartment along with Grace's bag and my own bag and I shut the hatch. Magda was already in the seat closest to the window, kneeling up as she looked out.

"There's a truck with stairs attached to it over there." She said with a laugh.

"That's so they can move the up to the planes for people to get on and off." Grace explained as she settled into the middle seat.

"Cool." Magda observed as I settled into the aisle seat, testing out the space I had and liking it. "But we didn't use steps."

"We got to use the air bridge because it's a bigger flight." Grace replied.

Magda nodded and continued to look out the window for a few minuets.

"Can't I have Mr Tiggles or do I have to wait until we're flying?" She asked.

"There won't be a safety belt for him." I said, thinking quickly. "He'll be safer in your bag."

"I hope you're right. He's missing so much." Magda said with a pout before going back to looking out the window.

First class was as full as it was gonna get and there were the sounds of the doors closing. The cabin crew were making their way down the aisles checking that the luggage racks were secure.

"It's time to sit down and fasten your seat belt now Mags." Grace stated and she guided Magda down into her seat as the plane began to move with a jerk.

"Are we taking off?" She asked excitedly as Grace clipped her belt into place and tightened it.

"We're being towed to the runway." I said as I fastened my own belt and tuned out the safety announcement because I knew it anyway and it just made flying all the more daunting.

"You don't like flying Daddy?" Magda asked with a shock.

"Just listen to what the nice lady is saying." Grace instructed.

"Ok." Magda said with a pout and looked toward the front although she couldn't actually see anything with the seats in the way.

In the end I forced myself to watch so Magda could see all the instructions through my eyes. It wasn't so bad when I was doing it for my daughter.

Then the cabin crew checked that all the belts were in place before they took their seats at the front of the plane. The plane stopped and there was a judder as the truck released. Then the plane moved under its own power, getting into position on the runway. The jets picked up and Magda gasped.

"It's just the jets." Grace assured her, tapping her hand and the lights were flying past the window and we were picking up speed. "Are you ready to fly Mags?"

Magda nodded with a wide grin on her face as the plane lifted and we climbed up into the air climbing, climbing in a way that seemed like it should be impossible. I tried not to show my fear, but normally I'd be gritting my teeth through all the jerking and the juddering until we'd reached cruising height.

Once the seatbelt light went out I unfastened my belt and I stood up to get Mr Tiggles out of Magda's bag. It was a good way to buy a little time while the plane was stable to get my mind back in order.

"I think he's ready to see out the window." I said as I handed him over.

"Come on Mr Tiggles we're thousands of feet in the air. You can see all lights and darkness beneath us." She told her wolf before turning back to Grace and me. "When will we be flying over the sea?"

"The pilot will let us know." I said as I sat back in my seat.

"Will we be going straight to Auntie Liza's from the airport?" She asked.

"Auntie Liza lives miles away from London." Grace stated. "We have to go in another plane to Cardiff and that's where she'll pick us up."

"How long will that flight take?"

"Only an hour." I replied.

"So we'll be getting to her about half past twelve, maybe one in the morning?" Magda calculated.

"No. We wouldn't have made the eleven connection, and rather than wait around in the airport for four hours for the next flight, we booked into a hotel. We'll spend a few hours there and fly out on the seven o'clock flight. We should touch down at eight o'clock tomorrow morning." I explained.

"All that time away. We'll miss out on so much of our vacation." Magda worried.

"Not really." I replied. "Think of it like this. You're gonna have to sleep when we get there anyway, so it's better to do it at a hotel so you can get right in to spending time with Auntie Liza and playing with Auntie Billie and baby Aiden."

Magda considered it for a moment then nodded.

"Yes, that is a better idea." She observed before stifling a yawn.

"You know if you're tired now Mags you're allowed to go to sleep." I said.

"Will you two be sleeping?" She asked.

"Probably. And everyone else is settling down. See." I said, indicating the other passengers who were opening up blankets and adjusting their seats.

"The seat going back does look fun." Magda mused.

"Here's your blanket." Grace said as she pulled the sealed bag out of the mesh of the seat in front of Magda.

"It's in its very own bag?" Magda asked with a grin.

"It's hygienic." Grace replied.

"Then Auntie Liza would like that." Magda said with a giggle as Grace pulled the blanket from the bag and gave it to her.

"Look Mr Tiggles, we got our own blanket to share. And a mask. But it hasn't got any eyeholes. That's stupid." She said, holding it up over her face. "You can't see."

"That's the point." Grace explained. "It stops the light from the other passengers from distracting you."

"Oh. Well then we need two because otherwise Mr Tiggles will be distracted and he won't sleep so I won't sleep." Magda said firmly.

"You can have mine." Grace said as she opened her blanket pack and fished out the sleep mask. "The light doesn't bother me."

"Thank you Mommy." Magda said with an angelic smile as Grace gave her the other mask.

Magda put it over Mr Tiggles eyes before she pulled her own back down over her eyes, but it slid down past her chin. I took it from her and tied a knot in the elastic to make it smaller. It fit her now, sort of, the mask itself almost drown her face, but she seemed happy enough with it. She sat back, then seemed to remember as she pulled up her mask.

"How does the seat go back?" She asked.

Grace showed her and Magda spent a few moments trying out the controls until she found the position she liked and then pulled the mask back down over her eyes. She pulled the blanket up around her and turned toward the window and she drifted to sleep with Mr Tiggles clutched to her.

_Has she gone?_ Grace asked.

_Yeah._ I confirmed, getting nothing but the background buzz of Magda's sleeping mind.

_I know she's excited about the flight, but I'm worried she'll start broadcasting._ Grace said.

_Don't worry. I got her covered._ I promised as I got out my blanket and pulled it over me for the comfort not the warmth and let my seat back.

_How can you do that if you're asleep?_ Grace demanded as she poked me in my side.

_I can shield Magda in my sleep, you know that Grace._ I replied as I pulled the mask down over my eyes.

_Well if you're going to sleep then so am I._ Grace said as she whipped the eye mask from me.

"Hey." I said, frowning at her.

"I need this more than you." She said, and that was true because I could sleep anywhere and much easier than she could.

_The one thing first class hasn't perfected are seats that would allow us to snuggle._ Grace said.

_That is a downer._ I replied. _But we can still hold hands._ I added as I took Grace's hand.

_There's that_. She said with a smile. _Ok. We'll hold hands for now and save the snuggling for later._

We did drift off to sleep and for once I found a happy bubble on a plane. Sleeping on planes was something I had avoided ever since Liza and me had been kidnapped that way, but weirdly, considering the love of my life and my only daughter was on this plane I felt safe. I don't know, maybe it was the fact that I had them to protect and I knew I could protect them that brought out this new confidence in me. I bet Mal would have a lot of psychobabble theories about it if I asked him.

The flight went by smoothly. I slept for three hours, Grace and Magda managed five before we were offered breakfast and it was light then anyway and Magda spent most of her time looking out of the window trying to spot ships on the water below. She wanted to use the bathroom three times, Grace took her each time because it was a tight squeeze if anyone needed to get past me when I was waiting outside the door. We had another meal on the plane about two hours before landing.

I stowed Mr Tiggles safely back in Magda's backpack before we started our descent. Descent was worse than take off for me, of course Mags enjoyed it much more than the takeoff and was giggling the entire way, thanks in part to the candy she was sucking on to stop her ears from popping.

We queued for ten minuets to go through customs, and Magda liked having her passport stamped. We didn't go to luggage pickup, they were on automatic checking and would be kept on hold until our flight arrived. All we had were our carry on bags, but they were packed with a change of underwear and a clean t-shirt and we'd just have to make do with whatever toiletries the hotel provided us with since we weren't allowed to have them on our carry on.

There was a cab waiting for us outside and it took us to the hotel two miles from the airport. Magda laughed when we turned off the motorway and onto one of the city streets and she noticed we were driving on the left.

"He's on the wrong side." She whispered.

"They drive on this side in Britain." Grace replied.

"Will we see where the king lives?" Magda asked.

"We're not going that far into London." I replied. "We're just going to the hotel to wait for our flight."

"London? This is London? Grandpa Carlisle came from London." Magda observed.

"He did." I agreed.

"But you said we weren't going there."

"I know. But we're not really, I mean we won't be able to look around. We'll go to our hotel, sleep a couple of hours and then we'll be back up again to go to the airport for our flight."

"Ok." Magda said. "Will there be food at the hotel?"

"We might get a sandwich." I hazarded because I really hadn't checked if they had an opening time for the kitchen.

We pulled up outside the hotel and we piled out onto the pavement.

"I'll be back at six guv." The driver said.

"Thanks." I said with a salute.

We then climbed the steps and entered the modern building the hotel was in. We had a reservation and were quickly shown up to our room. The hotel ran an all night kitchen if we wanted to pay extra for room service. If we'd had time then we could have ordered hot food, but since we should get some sleep before our next flight we ordered sandwiches and some chips.

Of course I forgot about dialect and thought they'd sent us the wrong order when we were given our ham sandwiches with French fries, but of course that's what chips were over here. Magda thought it was funny and great that she had hot fries instead of potato chips. I guess I enjoyed them more than I would have done a bag of chips too. Grace found chips and fries equally unhealthy, but that was a hang over from when she'd been human and her heart had been bad. She'd had to watch what she ate then, she didn't have to any more, now she was a half vamp like me, but she still had that hesitation whenever we were gonna pig out.

After eating we went to investigate the bathroom. There were three sealed toothbrushes in a water glass and a vase full of little one-use tubes of toothpaste and bottles of mouthwash. There were little shampoos and conditioners too, but we wouldn't have much time for a shower. Instead we all cleaned our teeth, it was important that Magda got into a good dental hygiene routine because we were dhampir and we relied on our teeth.

Then Grace and me stepped out of the bathroom while Magda used the toilet. Grace used the toilet next while I pushed the room service cart out into the hall. Grace got Magda into the single bed when I went to use the toilet and then we settled down.

I awoke to the sound of the phone ringing. I reached out blindly with my eyes still closed but it took a while to find it. It was the front desk with our five o'clock wake up call. I thanked the desk clerk and roused Grace. Grace went to change her underwear first while I answered the door and a bellboy wheeled in a breakfast cart. I tipped him then went to wake Magda.

She started on her breakfast but I went to dress when Grace came out of the bathroom. I had some toast once I was dressed and a cup of coffee to wash it down. We all washed afterwards and then we packed up our bags again and made our way down to reception to check out. As promised the cab was there again and it was clear the guy hadn't been asleep. When Grace asked him about it he said he was on the night shift and we were his last pick up of the day.

We didn't have any bags to check, we went through the express line to claim our boarding passes and we went through security in no time. We made our way to our gate and arrived there as our flight was boarding. This was a small plane so there wasn't a first class, and there wasn't an air bridge, but Magda liked that more because we got to see our plane from the outside as we went down to the tarmac before climbing the steps.

When I looked up the aisle of the plane it was clear I was gonna have a cramped flight. It was only for an hour though so it wouldn't be so bad. Magda took the window seat again and I took the aisle, with Grace in the middle. As I crammed myself into the little room available I started to think that maybe we should have done the same as Mom and Dad and hired a car to drive to Liza's farm. Maybe once I had a feel of the roads around here we could think about it next time.

Once we took off we hardly even straightened out before we were landing again. At least that's how it seemed, not that I was complaining, it meant we could get out of the plane and I knew Liza and Mom were at the airport waiting right there down below, I'd felt their minds as soon as we were in Cardiff airspace.

It was clear things were a little more lax here. We didn't queue so long to go through customs and it was only a short way to the carousel. We spotted our bags thanks to Magda's bright pink suitcase. Grace picked Magda up to stop her jumping on the carousel, so I grabbed all our bags and we followed the arrows out to the light drenched foyer. It was a bright sunny day and now I knew why Dad wasn't with Mom, Liza, Billie and Aiden. Mal wasn't there either, but he was in work, he had limited vacation time and was saving it for Christmas, it worried me a little that it would mean Liza was on her own.

Once we were past the barrier Mom and Billie came toward us and took a suitcase each off me. I could have carried them but they wanted to help so I let them. Then Liza came to join us, carrying Aiden on her hip and he was bigger than I thought he'd be, and looking around with an interest that just wasn't there the last time I'd seen him when he was new born.

It was clear to Magda too.

"He got big." She said, reaching toward him because Grace still held her.

"Told you he would Mags." Billie replied with a small smile as Magda thought some before agreeing.

She wanted to know if he could talk, and when Liza said he couldn't yet, Magda said something that I'd completely forgot about.

"Doesn't matter, I can hear his mind." She said with a shrug. "Can I sit by him in the car Auntie Liza?"

"Of course you may Magda." Liza replied, and I could already feel her mind working, wondering if what Magda said was possible.

Magda was telling them all about our trip on the aeroplane.

_Can Mags really hear Aiden's mind?_ Grace asked.

_I don't know._ I said. _It's hard to be sure, I mean she hears Mr Tiggles all the time, but then she's got your imagination. If I did hear a voice in her head I couldn't be certain if it was Aiden's voice or if it was just Mags imagining it._

Grace had to put Magda down then because she was getting excited because she'd sensed Dad in the car. It was in little time at all that we were all pilling into Liza's Vauxhall. Magda was sat between Aiden and Billie in the middle row of seats. Mom was gonna get in the front passenger seat, but then asked if I wanted to after seeing the last leg of our plane journey in my mind. It meant I wouldn't get to sit by Grace, but it didn't really matter because Grace preferred me to be comfortable.

Magda was chatting away happily as Liza made sure Aiden was secure in his seat. She was talking to Aiden, as if she was responding to him.

"You saw a sheep and Mammy touched it? Was it a big sheep? Wow. Can I see the sheep too? Will I get to pet it?" That last one was directed to the adults.

"We'll have to ask Mair." Billie answered instead, and she seemed to think she had authority on the matter where the Jones family was concerned, even over Liza. "You mustn't just run up to the sheep cause you might spook them."

"Ok. I will wait until I have permission." Magda said solemnly, then laughed again. "I don't think I will have to be carried. I'm a big girl now, I can walk…Well I don't know. You're human and not dhampir like me so it will take you longer to walk, maybe in a few months. Definitely when you come back to see us at home for Christmas I think you will be walking."

"Are you really talking to him?" Billie asked as if she couldn't help herself and I really didn't want Magda getting into all that just yet, to think it was freaky or anything.

"This is weird. I keep thinking 'where's the steering wheel'." I said with a laugh as I got into the passenger seat, trying to change the conversation.

"It does take time to get used to." Liza replied as she fastened her belt.

"Of course I can." Magda answered anyway and I scanned her mind, but she didn't find anything wrong with Billie's question. "He might not talk with his mouth yet but he got all the thoughts in his mind haven't you Aiden? Oh you prefer Addie, that's what Mammy calls you and that makes you happy."

"Addie?" I asked, because Liza only ever abbreviated a name when the person requested it.

"Yes." She said with a smile, and left it at that. "Is everybody strapped in?"

Once she had confirmation she pulled off and we were heading out of the parking lot. I searched for something to talk about, the weather caught my attention because it was a clear day, and already hot at eight in the morning. The sky was clear blue and wasn't what I'd been expecting from all of Mal's joking. I questioned it, but it was clear from her tone that Liza'd had enough of the fine weather, so had most of the country it seemed. Apparently the roads had been melting. Then Mags said Addie wanted to know what a word was and Liza asked me silently if Mags really could hear Aiden. I told Liza the truth; that I couldn't hear Aiden but Magda was certain she could.

I also informed Liza that she was ok using telepathy with me; that Mags wouldn't overhear because I was keeping a filter around her mind. It was really something I could have used as a kid, but overhearing the thoughts I shouldn't had made me determined to protect Magda and Liza was full of praises about this. She thought I was doing the best thing for her and this led to her musing that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea that Aiden was human because she didn't think she could help him if he was a telepath. Not in the way I could help Magda, but I was certain that she'd be able to do it. Sometimes when we'd been around each other for a long period of time she could control my power to a certain extent. I was certain that she'd have no problem doing it for her own kid. It was a quick back and fore between us and when Liza answered Magda's question Magda found it hard to define the words for Aiden and so she showed him with mind pictures instead.

Liza was worried. She tried to deny it, but I could feel that moment flutter through her mind when she worried that Magda might accidentally put something in Aiden's mind he was too young to know, or that his baby mind wouldn't handle something so complex. She underestimated his ability to absorb stuff, which was stupid when you think about it. Baby's learn a hell of a lot in their first year and are much better at absorbing and handling new information as they rush toward a point where they can at least get around independently and communicate their thoughts beyond a primitive cry. We got into a little squabble, but it was nothing really, just a little sibling teasing.

Mom was beginning to wonder what we were talking about because she could feel our conversation but I was blocking the actual words from her. To make up for it I asked Liza out loud what we were gonna do for our birthday. Turned out we were gonna have a party, just us supernaturals and it sounded cool, although it would be different from how we'd always celebrated together as kids down on the Res. Magda was excited by the confirmation of the pool and she knew exactly what she wanted to do as soon as she reached the farm since the sheep were out of the question until later. Liza was more than happy to oblige, but then we all loved swimming in our family. Then Magda went around checking if everyone else wanted to swim until Billie distracted her with some castle on the side of the road.

I didn't pay attention to that because I'd caught a little sadness from Liza when she said about Mal being in work and I wanted to get to the bottom of it in case I had to offer moral support later. It was always better to get ahead with Liza just in case.

_Do you get lonely when Mal's in work?_ I ventured since that was the most likely thing that would worry her.

_To be honest Brother I have had little time to note his absence for we have had guest for the entire time that he has returned to work. Besides I have Aiden now to take up my attention and by the time you all return home I will be starting on with my course. I will be too busy to note it._ She said, but I didn't buy it, not that I'd call her out on it yet cause that would just antagonise her.

_Well that's something._ I replied.

_You do not agree?_ She demanded and I guess I'm not as good as I thought hiding stuff from Liza.

_I don't want to butt into your life but I think that maybe you would be happier back home cause even if Mal is in work all day you'll have company_. I stated, speaking my own thoughts on the matter.

She bought that it was my problem and went on to explain that she had friends here, even if she couldn't speak openly to them, she could still find enough company with them. It seemed almost like she was finding any excuse not to come back to America and so I called her out on it directly.

_I would move back tomorrow if Mal could find an adequate job and we could find a place as worthwhile as our farm to live, but that is not available at the moment and believe me we have looked. There is nothing in Washington and I do not wish to live in Nomad lands or be beholden to a carnivorous coven leader._ She said and I felt a little angry that Liza seemed to be making all the sacrifices for Mal and it seemed a little wrong to me.

_I guess I can agree with you on that one._ _But does he have to be a psychiatrist? Can't he do something else for now?_ I asked.

_Mal has so little in his life that is truly his achievement and becoming a psychiatrist was something he aimed for before I came into his life. I would not ask him to give that up for me._ She said and I guess it was because she loved him, and Mal wasn't asking her to do this, she'd chose to do it on behalf of Mal, she didn't want to make him choose because it was something he'd wanted from before he met Liza and I guess there was a hell of lot he sacrificed for her in the past. I guess I also knew that if Liza really put her foot down and asked him to move back home he would, even if it meant he had to flip burgers for a living. Maybe I wanted Liza to admit that she had more control than she was letting on.

_But aren't you more or less giving up your family for him?_ I asked.

_In what way? _She demanded angrily and I realised I was pushing her too far, but I'd started so I'd finish.

_Well we hardly see you._ I said, realising that part of this was cause I missed my twin something chronic when we were so far apart.

_Yet I see you all as much as I did when living in Seattle._ She pointed out, but it wasn't the same for one simple reason.

_I know. But when you were in Seattle you were just over the water there. I could at least feel your mind_. I argued.

_I feel your mind now if I allow myself to drift._ She said, and well that was true but it wasn't the same.

_Well drifting yeah, but not all the time_. I said sadly.

_It will not be forever Tony._ She said, and she meant it. _We will one day return to America. Possibly when Aiden is grown and we can better protect him from those who would exploit the human son of dhampir._

_I guess there's that side of things to consider with Aiden._ I conceded because I hadn't really thought about what the slavers might want to do with him, how they might experiment on him. _But you know I'll protect him whatever._

_We all would brother, but I would prefer to alleviate the burden. After all, who would find us here?_

_It does seem out of the way, but you keep having family visit someone's bound to work it out. Maybe we should all start getting off at Heathrow and hiring a car like Mom and Dad did._ I said, mostly for Liza's safety, but partly because of how cramped I'd felt on the short flight.

Liza more or less agreed and we fell silent a while as Mags and Billie discussed the fact that there was a gate to open to get onto the farm. It somehow led to Dad revealing that he'd actually planted a few of the trees around the entrance to Tregarran's drive to hide it a little. And when a vampire said he planted a tree that very much can mean he picked up a whole big pine from somewhere deeper in the forest and put it where he needed it. I would have liked to have read the human minds at that time, would they have even noticed the trees turn up over night? Dad also revealed that Grace family had owned Northern Heights, or something, but by the time he moved Tregarran Hall to America they were living in the old stables/grounds keeper cottage that had been converted into the house Grace now owned. Our home, the Stables. If that was true it seemed kind of wrong that Prue had to pay close to a million dollars to purchase the remains of the house and grounds of Northern Heights if it belonged to their family anyway. Unless it was a different branch of the Pearson family. The clan was big but I'd met hardly any of them because Brigham had very little to do with them even though he'd inherited the Stables. It also got Grace to musing about how much time Dad had seen and how much time we would see together. I liked Grace's thoughts of the future, of us moving through time together, always young, always having fun.

Liza's thought overshadowed everything though and I felt my heart constrict painfully as she went through all them imagines of what it was like to feel your own mortality. To consider it because you were so sick that you could drop dead from the condition you'd had since birth. I hated that time, worrying about Grace and I didn't need Liza reminding me of it and what's more, making it worse than it used to be. In the end I just had to tell her to quit, and even had to play dirty with pointing out that there was a time Mal might have questioned his mortality, but I just had to get her to stop with all the morbid thinking about my Grace. Thankfully our arrival at the farm brought an end to our little fight and I decided to let it go. Liza hadn't meant to hurt me and we were together now, hating on her wouldn't do anyone any favours.

As her little farm came into view I was surprised by how small it was, but what we could see was the old farm, just family living quarters now. The modern farm was bigger, over the little rise, but you know what I wasn't so interested in that. Liza's home was the stone buildings down in the little bowl. It consisted of the old farmhouse and now several rooms converted from the old out buildings.

One of these rooms was for Grace and me, Magda was gonna stay in the house, up in the attic with Billie. Magda's head was full of sleepover dreams when she found out and she didn't care that she'd be so far away from Grace and me. She was excited to be on vacation. Magda wanted to see our room first though, and damn it was good. Even if it had once been a stable, Liza had a weird sense of humour some times, putting us in a room that had the same name as our house.

On the other hand it looked like something people would pay good money to stay in. The room itself was a good size with a double bed, sofa and TV. There was a kitchen sink in the corner with a kettle and a microwave, a little refrigerator too, but somehow I doubted we'd need to use it with Liza and Dad here. The door in the corner led into a room with a toilet and a sink and through another doorway was a wet room, the showerheads coming from every direction for a thorough clean. Liza was a little annoyed that these outbuildings had better bathrooms than the one she had in the house, but hell she owned them, she could always come out and use them if she really wanted.

Magda wanted us to see her room so we dumped our bags and followed Liza and Billie to the house. Mom and Dad were in the big warm kitchen where Dad was preparing breakfast, and even though we'd ate at the hotel my stomach was rumbling in anticipation. Still we had to climb to the top of the house where I had to duck because there really wasn't the headroom for me. Magda had the room on the left and it looked as if someone had exploded a bottle of pepto bismol in there, it was so pink. It was Billie's idea, but mostly cause she knew Magda loved pink.

Grace and me left Magda to unpack her bag with Billie's help, cause that's what she wanted, and we went out to our room to unpack while Dad finished breakfast. Unpacking didn't seem to be on Grace's mind though.

_Finally alone Tony Black._ She growled as she leapt onto my back and kissed my cheek.

_Why Grace Pearson you're incorrigible_. I joked as I pulled her around to me and kissed at her neck. _You know I'm a weak willed male when it comes to your alluring feminine seductions._

Grace giggled before she kissed along my jaw and began sucking on my ear.

_Oh… god…_

I had to like, put a stop to this or we would be missing breakfast because I really couldn't resist Grace when she did that.

"Mercy…" I managed.

Grace pulled away and looked down at me with a grin.

"Mercy?" She asked.

"Yeah. Cause I want you badly Grace, but we have to be decent in about five minuets and what I got in mind for you, well five minuets is nowhere near enough." I growled.

"Good answer." Grace said with a smile and kissed my lips before jumping out of my arms. "Come on, let's unpack."

We unpacked as we talked about nothing and nonsense, but it was happy nothing and nonsense, and it was just us, taking advantage of stolen alone time before breakfast with my family. What bliss.

* * *

**I'm not sure how often I'll be posting on this, I'm hoping to post maybe every other week, altrnating with Dhampir Hereafter but I was thinking that I really need a window into what's happening back with the rest of them and I thought this would be a good way to do it.**

**Thank you for reading**

**Please review**

**Gemma x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer**

**This chapter is dedicated to Noble, Fadewind, M-Bianca94, Alphabloodwolf, Cara Gracious, Patricia, Lsb123, and BellaNessieCullen**

* * *

**Grace**

The journey had been long, but not arduous as I would have put it in one of my books, but then planes weren't exactly available to Lady Anna and Brody. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been mobbed at the airport. So much for anonymity, with those damn posters everywhere I don't think I'll ever find it. Garry had tried to stop it, but the publishers had the monopoly on advertising, even using my image.

That was a whole lot of hours ago and we were now at Liza's farm and who out here would recognise me?

We had breakfast more or less as soon as we'd arrived and now Tony and me were changing to go use the pool. To be honest I would have preferred to spend some time alone with Tony, but I could hold off because our room was so far away from Magda's that it was like checking into a motel for a weekend. Well one of those fancy more upmarket ones because of how nice the room was that Liza gave us to stay in.

Well we were supposed to be changing but I couldn't help it when my eyes drifted over to my handsome husband, his muscles rippling beneath smooth russet skin, as he pulled off his t-shirt and jeans, ready to pull on his trunks. I don't know what was up with me because I wanted nothing more than to have hot sex with my husband. There was nothing really weird about that, I'd never found anyone as attractive as Tony, but usually I could function beyond wanting to spend every second of the day in bed with him. Right now though I wanted his body and I couldn't figure out what was causing this surge of hormones in me but whatever it was I had to get my mind in order because it would be embarrassing if Essie, Tony's mother, read all this horniness from my mind. It would be mortifying if something slipped through to Magda and I completely scarred her for life. That has got to be the worst way ever to find out about sex, reading your mother's fantasies about your father. It was bad enough that she now knew I wrote what she called naughty books, it wouldn't be right for her to receive my naughty thoughts too.

"Earth to Grace." Tony asked, waving his hand in front of my eyes. "Day dreaming about me?" He asked with his wide, impish grin when I blinked and looked at him.

"No. I'm fantasising about some other tall, hunk of a wolf." I replied on the edge of irritability because I got annoyed when I let my mind wander.

"Well you'd better get into your swimming costume because Mags is eager to go swimming, I don't think Billie can hold her back any more." Tony said with a certainty that made it clear he was keeping a mind tendril on Magda to make sure she wasn't messing around.

"I'll be quick." I promised and quickly changed into my black one piece and tied my long sarong around my waist to walk to the barn.

Tony pulled on a t-shirt and we both got our flip-flops on before making our way to the barn. We caught up with Liza and the kids as they were going into the barn and we walked through two sets of doors, one straight after each other that led into a humid room with a big square pool in the middle. The water looked inviting and Essie and Tobias was already making use of it. Magda almost jumped in with her dress still on. If Billie wasn't taking time to remove her sarong I think Magda would have jumped in, but she liked to copy her auntie.

I climbed into the water, while Tony, big kid that he was jumped in and caught Magda as she jumped in giggling behind him. Billie went to the deep end to jump in and went to talk to her parents who were floating about on their backs.

Liza dropped a kiddie ring into the pool before she sat on the side and held Aiden against her shoulder as she lowered herself into the pool. Aiden was wearing a swimming diaper and a t-shirt, but he still seemed to shiver a little as Liza lowered him further into the water, though not that much further. Liza wasn't even five foot tall so even at the shallow end the water reached her waist. She moved toward the ring and pulled it closer to her before placing Aiden in it. He burbled a little, kicking his legs, it was clear he liked the ring.

Magda swam over to him and stood next to Liza, she was just a head shorter than her fully-grown aunt.

"I like your ring Addie. If I couldn't swim I would like one just like that." Magda told her cousin.

"Bet you can't splash more than me." Billie challenged as she reached the shallow end from her length across the pool.

"I can too." Magda cried, taking up the challenge and she raced Billie to the deep end. "Grandma will you judge us?"

"Course I will Mags." Essie replied, and she swam to the side to judge.

In the mean time Tony had swam up to his twin, and although they really looked nothing alike, well Liza was small, pale and curly haired, whereas Tony is two foot taller with russet skin and straight hair when he wore it long. Right now it was short, the guys he worked with were salt of the earth folk who tended to make fun of everything in a good-natured way, so Tony limited their ability to do it to him. It was a shame really because I liked when his hair was just so long that I could play with it when he was lying against me in the after glow. Anyway, as different as they looked, their connection was much more apparent than just the colour of their eyes, there was just something about their interaction that proved they were related.

It was weird as my thoughts shifted as I watched him take charge of Aiden's ring and moved him across the pool. I know we had Magda, but I also knew Tony would like a boy too. Someone to pass all his tree climbing secrets and wood carving onto since Magda was so determinedly a girly-girl. Now as he played with Aiden I could almost see him playing with our own son sometime in the near future. I turned to watch Magda as she bombed into the pool with Billie, ok so she had some boisterous tendencies too, but even she wanted a baby brother, just like her cousin Aiden. I wondered what she would make of a little brother if she could have him by the end of the year.

"Feeling broody Sister?" Liza asked as she was suddenly at my side.

In the past, when I was human I would have given a start at her sudden appearance and a guilty start that she'd realised my thoughts. I was a dhampir now so I had more control over my body, besides I didn't get as embarrassed as I did when I was a kid. I was an adult now, I'd been married for five years and had a kid, there really wasn't much to be embarrassed about anymore so I shrugged, happy in a sense that someone had finally brought my thoughts into focus, it explained why I'd wanted to jump Tony's bones earlier.

"Magda's older now." I began. "And, well she's been nagging for a little brother who is just like her cousin Aiden since February."

"A new baby would not be so bad. I know I will have another one, although I will wait until Aiden is older and not so dependent on me." Liza said with her eerie certainty she always got when she was certain she had the future locked in place by her plans. Of course her plans didn't always work out when applied to real life, like the fact Aiden was human and so he was still a baby after six months, Magda was already walking and talking when she was that age.

"I guess you got to think about that, but I haven't had to with Magda. She's been independent since she was a month old." I stated.

"That's the truth of dhampir." Liza said sagely.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Of course you have them as people sooner and you need not fear their mortality." She whispered so low I knew she didn't want the others to hear, I put my arm around her like I would have done when we were kids.

"I guess you got to look at the positives whatever." I whispered back.

"Yes." Liza agreed.

"Although I would like to have a baby I can hold." I mused as I made a cradle with my arms.

"Aiden is yours for the holding during your stay." Liza said with a smile.

"Thanks Sister." I replied and hugged her.

"What are you two talking about?" Tony asked giving me a suspicious look, it was obvious he knew exactly what we'd been talking about but this wasn't exactly the place to discuss it.

"We're talking about you not to you." Liza retorted and she stuck out her tongue.

"Very mature Eliza, you do remember you're a mother now." Tony replied but I could see the kid in him had been aroused now and we were in for a little Black twins competition.

"Yes. It does not mean I cannot beat you in a swimming contest." Liza challenged and it was like being transported back nearly twenty years and I was over at Tregarran on a Sunday morning, watching one of their little arguments turn into the full-blown Olympics.

"Really." Tony asked, raising his eyebrows. "Grace, you're tagged in on Aiden watch, I got to teach my sister a lesson."

"Be careful you two, remember there are children in the pool. You don't want to hurt them." I said as I got in the pool and took over Aiden. "Hello Addie, I'm your Auntie Gracie." I said as I took him over to the other side of the pool to leave enough room for the great race.

Aiden looked up at me with his bright blue eyes and he didn't recognise me, it was obvious, but he didn't find me threatening either, so that was good.

"Are Mommy and Uncle Tony being sillies?" I asked.

"He doesn't say Mommy, Mommy, he says Mammy." Magda said as she swam up next to me while Tony and Liza raced to the deep end. "No, I say Mommy, this is my Mommy and no she hasn't got mind talking."

I looked at her through the corner of my eye wondering if she really could hear Aiden or if she'd just inherited my overactive imagination but coupled with her telepathy it made it harder for her to differentiate the creative voices in her mind from the real thought voices she was picking up from the people around her.

"He's cute isn't he Mommy?" Magda said as she clung onto my arm so she didn't have to tread water. "Wouldn't it be good if we had a baby just like him?"

"Maybe." I said.

"I'd very much like a brother." She said firmly.

"What if you had a sister?" I asked.

"I'd love her too, but you could always get another baby after." Magda replied with Tony's grin.

I laughed and shook my head at her suggestion. I looked up when I heard Tony and Liza arguing about the results of the race. Liza had won and Tony was complaining that she'd cheated by doing the whole race underwater without coming up for air. I had to laugh and Liza swam over to me.

"Well done." I congratulated her as I gave Aiden back and he burbled happily as he recognised his mother.

"You're supposed to be on my side." Tony complained playfully as he stood up beside me and placed his arm about my waist.

"Well you do get the consolation prize." I said and as I kissed his cheek I showed him exactly what we were gonna do as soon as we locked ourselves away for the night on the frequency Tony had assured me Magda wouldn't be able to hear me.

"That's a good consolation prize." Tony conceded with a grin and I had to stop myself from dragging him away to the stable room there and then.

Well I didn't need to imagine a giant bucket of cold water, because there was a change to the atmosphere in the room and I was suddenly on guard. I was on guard before I'd seen the girls who entered. Liza had seen them, recognised them, and her worry had passed on to Tony who passed it on to me.

"Hey Red, we came to use the pool just like you said." The one who was clearly the leader called, directing her call to Billie and now her annoyed anger coursed through Tony and on to me.

I hated that girl with all the fury a teenage girl could feel toward her tormentor. I knew that feeling well, I'd felt it enough as a kid, especially toward Naomi cross, but I hadn't been as capable as Billie of directing it. I'd been too meek for that, and mostly I believed I was the crap she called me.

"You are not… Coming in the pool unless you have swimming costumes." Liza said and it was clear that Liza was gonna throw them the hell out but someone had stopped her midway, kind of like someone had kicked her shin under the table, only in this case it was a poke at her mind and it seemed more like it was Essie than Tony who had done it.

"We're not into skinny dipping Mrs L." The girl said in such a disrespectful way I felt my fists clench.

The girls stripped down to their matching swimming costumes, posing with their matching tans and matching streaked brown and blonde hair on the side of the pool. Liza quickly left the pool and I wondered if I should maybe get Magda out too, but she was down by Billie, who was glaring at these intruders, and I was certain it would embarrass her if I dragged Magda away. Anyway, the more of us here the better I was sure.

As the girls sauntered around to Billie, the lead girl was much better at it than her ident-e-kit shadows; I moved to put my arms around Tony. I could feel the anger building within him, he could see Naomi within this bitch, this Anika and he didn't like the thought of her anywhere near his baby sister. Naomi had gone on to a life of crime that included beating up kids for kicks and it was clear that he could read this from Anika. I could read it from Anika and I wasn't even telepathic, she just exuded the possibility of danger.

"Hey Red, this pool isn't as great as you made out. It's a little titchy compared to mine." Anika said with a sigh.

"Then why are you coming here to use this one?" Magda demanded and I went to lurch toward her and it was Tony who held me back now, Essie and Tobias had been moving nonchalantly into place and they were there if adult intervention was needed.

"And you are?" Anika demanded.

"Magda Anna Black." Magda said firmly, sticking out my chin. "And that's my Auntie Billie you're talking to and you should give her more respect."

"I should, should I?" Anika demanded.

"Yes." Magda said firmly. "We should all respect each other and be courteous and this world would be a better place."

"You're being rude to me." Anika said, amused.

"You were being rude to Billie." Magda said firmly.

"You need a baby to fight your battles Red?" Anika said, and tapped Billie on the back with rather too much force.

"No she doesn't." Magda said. "Besides you've been disrespectful to Auntie Liza and her home. You need to have your X-box privileges suspended and be grounded for a week."

Anika laughed.

"I like this kid, she's funny." And then she said something in Welsh, and then looked shocked when Magda replied in Welsh and Billie laughed and ruffled her hair.

"That's my niece." She said as she pulled her into a hug and Magda hugged her back.

Anika wrinkled her nose because it was clear whatever she said hadn't hurt Magda and Billie as much as she'd hoped. Then she winced and clutched at her head for a moment and I noticed that Magda was glaring at her and I had to wonder if she was doing something to Anika, but I couldn't check with Tony just yet because he was in a convo with Essie about what to do.

There was clear tension in the poolroom and it was broken when Liza came in with Aiden on her hip and a bouncer under her arm. Tony was out of the pool and helping Liza hang the bouncer up on the hook in the ceiling. In the time it took him to do that and for Liza to put Aiden into the bouncer, Anika had slinked around the pool to stand behind him and I felt the vampire in me growl as a rival set her sights on my man.

"Duw you're tall. And I love the colour of your skin." She crooned as she took hold of Tony's wrist and stroked his arm.

"Yeah." Tony grunted, pulling away from her and blanking her as he made his way back to me.

"So who are you?" Anika asked, standing in front of Tony, blocking his path and she had some nerve considering what she'd just been saying to Magda and Billie.

"This is my twin brother Tony." Liza said, getting in between them and somehow making herself seem seven feet tall.

"No way." Anika gasped, before snarking. "You're tall you are and so tanned. Liza's all short and pale."

"That's because she follows Dad." Tony said. "I follow Mom and our Quileute ancestors."

"Huh. Guess you were right Red, you are an Indian." Anika called back to Billie and I glared at her.

"Why would you think she was lying?" Tony snapped and I suddenly found myself behind the bitch.

"Oh you know, new girl in town making up stories." Anika said with a shrug but her tone was flirtatious. "She should have just showed me pictures of you, handsome."

I felt the urge to give into my vampire nature and just bite her, but I settled for scaring the bejeezus out of her instead by saying in her ear, "Yes, he's very handsome."

"Who are you?" She said with a snort to look tough in front of her friends, but my keen vamp senses were honed for spotting fear in humans and she was reeking of it.

"I'm Grace. Tony's wife." I replied and she turned to me, her eyes taking in everything about me.

Time was this would have made me shrink back; I was a geek through and through and no match for the popular girls. Time had made me realize that I might not be athletic but I was naturally trim and I had clear skin and how many women dyed their hair to get my colour? Being made dhampir had brought everything into further focus and to be honest the opinions of stupid little girls didn't bother me anymore.

"Oh. I see." She said, then frowned. "Why do you look familiar?"

One of her friends whispered into her ear and I heard my maiden name mentioned.

"Are you Grace Pearson?" She asked, clearly not believing her friend.

"Yes." I confirmed.

"You wrote the Darktide books." She said and there was clearly disbelief in her voice, obviously she thought I was incapable of writing the more erotic scenes but I found it hard to believe that this dim headed bitch could actually read.

"You read…them?" I managed to save myself from that Freudian slip.

"Nah. Can't be bothered with reading." Anika said dismissively. "Seen the film though."

Ok, now I was ready to kill her good. She couldn't be bothered to read my work and now disrespected it by watching that piece of pirated crap. And she just couldn't grasp when I told her there wasn't a film. She thought I was being dense, but she was the stupid one. Darktide had been floating around for a good few years, all the studios wanted it, but none of them wanted to allow me to keep my hand in proceedings and none of the proposals I'd seen so far worked to my liking. Then I'd given it to Dove, her screenplay was perfect, but the big studios were a little snooty about the movie of the week director who came to prominence because of her A-list actor husband. We finally found a studio who wanted to make Dove's script with her directing and they'd allow me to consult when we got wind that another studio had already filmed a whole lot of a movie based on my books. They were in breach of copyright and Garry, my manager, got an injunction. They had to stop filming, but released what they had so far online, pretending it had been 'leaked'. Now our official studio was getting cold feet, worried that people would think the pirate film was official and the fact it was such a turkey would affect revenue. Garry was in negotiations and I believed in him enough that he would sort it out, but I was still tense at the moment and I didn't need reminding of it by people who hadn't even read my work.

I couldn't be angry with her friend though. She was a fan of my work, she even visited Darkplace, the fan-site ran by Tony's friend Dannan. It was people like her I needed on side right now, maybe with enough fan support the movie would get made. And it was nothing to do with the money like Anika suggested and everything to do with having my work made as close to my vision as possible.

Finally Anika and her friends left and Liza said what we were all thinking.

"If only I were ten years younger." She growled and you could see all the things she was imagining doing to Anika for hurting her little sister.

"I told you Sis, it's nothing I can't handle." Billie said warily.

"I didn't like the way she called you Red, Baby." Essie stated.

Billie explained how Anika had started using it as an insult when some guys she hung with had nicknamed Billie 'Red' to make her part of their gang. Billie had decided not to let it bother her, and I figured it would work if she only saw these people for a month each year.

Whatever, the swim session had been ruined so we all left to shower and dress ready for lunch. It was a shame really that it had happened and I wanted to teach those girls a lesson some how.

"Nothing would work." Tony said as we stepped into our room. "So stop thinking about them cause I got you all to myself."

"Not now Tony, I'm not in the mood." I said, stepping away from him.

"You were earlier." He observed, following me across the room.

"Yeah. But that was before all that lot turned up." I said, annoyed with myself for letting them bring my mood down.

"Well could I perhaps convince you in the shower?" He asked, lifting my chin so I had to look in his eyes and I couldn't help smiling.

"Let's just go have lunch and we'll get down and dirty tonight." I said, nudging his shoulder with my fist.

"Sounds like a good plan." Tony said before kissing me.

We showered and dressed before making our way to the farmhouse for lunch.

* * *

**Tony**

The day seemed to go on forever, without ever seeming to really drag. It was still only mid afternoon but we'd already been swimming, fended off an invasion of fashion zombies and had lunch. Now we were all sitting out in Liza's backyard, all of us enjoying the sun. Dad was even in the sun despite the fact he was sparkling like fine crystal. Mom and me had our minds on the perimeter, we'd know if anyone was approaching and we wouldn't be surprised this time like we were this morning.

"Pretty Grandpa." Magda cooed when she noticed Dad sparkling and I realised that although she'd seen him sparkle before, this was the first time she'd seen him in such strong sunlight. "Will I have pretty diamond skin one day?"

"Yeah." I confirmed and decided to show her, pulling down the heat and letting the vampire up for air. "Just like this."

"Silly Daddy." Magda giggled as she put her hands on my cheeks. "You're all pretty like Grandpa now. How about you Grandma?"

Mom shrugged as she pulled down the heat herself and now she was sparkling too. Magda leapt from my chair over to Mom's and ran her hand over Mom's forehead, comparing how different their skin was now. Liza was sitting next to us, Grace was down on a blanket playing with Aiden, which was the reason Liza was next on her list.

"Now you Auntie Liza?" She asked and just for a second I felt the flash of hurt in Liza's mind.

"I am sorry Magda, but I am merely dhampir, it is beyond my power to sparkle." She said sadly.

"Never mind." Magda said as she climbed up into Liza's lap and hugged her tightly around her neck. "You sparkle in your mind like Auntie Billie and Mommy and Auntie Prue."

"Thank you my dear niece." Liza replied as she hugged her back and kissed her forehead.

Magda giggled as she left us and went to sit with Grace and Aiden and started having a conversation with Aiden. Then she picked him and carried him over to us so easily and even I could get from his mind that he wanted to get a closer look at the sparkle. It wasn't clear adult thoughts, just the feel of it in his mind.

"You see the sparkles?" Magda asked as she handed him over to Mom.

Aiden was fascinated by the dancing light.

"Well maybe one day if you're a wolf and vampire like me." Magda stated and Aiden looked at Magda and I was almost certain there was some communication going on there now, but I wasn't sure exactly how well Aiden was responding and how much of it was Magda just assuming.

Once Magda was done explaining things to Aiden she went back to playing ball with Billie. Billie had taken the time out to check her phone, I'd noticed that she took it out when she thought no one would notice now and again. I didn't know whether to tease her about it or to worry about her, I guess I'd ask Mom what she thought was for the best. Aiden watched them for a moment and then started bawling, he wanted to play ball too and that thought rang out clearly.

He was too little to play on his own, but his Uncle Tony could help. I picked him up and carried him over to the girls, moving him so that he could 'kick' the ball. Magda thought it was hysterical and Billie congratulated him before giving me a lecture on sports terms. Billie was a bit of a tomboy, but she wasn't into sports. Even though she liked collecting useless bits of trivia she generally avoided the whole sports area. I thought I was allowed at least a little teasing, after all what are big brothers for?

I was about to tease her about the Arwel kid she always talked about when I sensed a mind approaching, almost out of nowhere. It was down to the fact that he didn't even think about coming here. It was such a part of his routine now that it was as natural to him as breathing, and who thought about breathing? No one. They just did it, and this kid came here with that same reflexive action because Billie was here.

I had just enough time to pull up the heart, get back into my Quileute skin as Mom and Dad jumped into the shadow of the house and looked as if they'd been sat there all along.

Then the kid appeared, and Billie nearly melted at the sight of him. There was a stutter in her heartbeat and her mind turned to goo for a moment before she managed to pull herself together. Mom didn't take any notice because she was in denial that Billie was even interested in boys yet that she couldn't see the evidence when it was right there in front of her.

"Hi." Billie said, running up to meet him. "Come meet my brother and little niece." She added as she dragged him toward Magda and me.

"Ok." He said since he didn't really have a choice.

"They're visiting because it's Liza and Tony's birthday on Thursday." Billie babbled to hide the floaty thoughts she was having while holding on to Arwel's arm.

"Oh yeah, I remember your sister said she had a twin brother." Arwel replied and he looked about the garden looking for this brother until he realised it was me, and yeah people often found it hard to believe that me and Liza were twins, but he brushed his disbelief away because it didn't bother him any.

"This is my brother Tony. Don't be put off by his looks, he may be as big as a bear, but he's a puppy dog really." She said in retaliation to the teasing I'd almost subjected her to.

"Thanks Bills." I said before holding out my hand to Arwel. "You must be Arwel. It's nice to finally meet you."

Arwel nodded his head wondering exactly what Billie had said about him. He was worried if she'd led us to believe they were an item because she was younger than him and well a holiday romance, which would be cliché. Besides he didn't see her that way, she was cool and everything but to him she felt like a sister, he was certain. Not that his sister was anything like Billie, mostly he found Del to be a pain in the arse, which Billie certainly wasn't. There was a hell of a lot of thoughts there, the kid was so very conflicted and I wondered if I should say anything to him. But how would I know anyway? To him telepathy wouldn't be real.

I introduced him to Magda instead, who was pretending to be shy, hiding behind my leg.

"Are you the one with all the sheep?" She asked in a small voice.

"Yeah." Arwel confirmed.

"I like you." Magda announced with a smile before she dashed over to Grace for safety.

"Come meet my sister-in-law. She's a famous author." Billie said excitedly, and now Arwel was being towed over to Grace, I followed. "Grace Pearson."

"It's an honour to meet you." Arwel said politely but the name hadn't rung a bell.

"You've never heard of me have you." Grace said with a smile, happy that she'd met someone who hadn't read her books and not seen the pirate movie like that stupid girl this morning.

Arwel wracked his brain over how to politely answer her.

"Don't worry, you're not really in my demographic." Grace said, letting him off.

Then Arwel took note of Grace blonde hair and blue eyes, of my russet skin and dark hair and a whole lot of scenes rushed into his head that caused his face to go bright red.

"You write those…those books." He murmured and Billie giggled.

"Yeah. Those ones." She confirmed.

"Oh…" Arwel said taking a moment to get his voice back. "They're very good."

"Thank you." Grace said with a smile.

Arwel stood in a cloud of embarrassment for a long moment because not only had he been caught out reading erotic fiction by a whole bunch of strangers, but he thought Grace looked way too sweet to write that type of thing. He'd always imagined her older, more experienced looking.

Mom gave him an out by asking how his dog training was going and he took that life line thankfully before asking Billie along to help him. He offered for Magda to go too and she jumped at the chance to go see a dog herd sheep. I was gonna let her go anyway, but Grace jumped in first and Magda jumped about excitedly before she took Billie's hand and they followed Arwel out of the gate and walked around to the front of the house, a black and white collie walking at Arwel's heel.

Half way up the hill Billie lifted Magda up to give her a piggyback. It's exactly what you'd expect if they'd both been human and I mentioned this to Liza as I waved Aiden's hand after them. I thought it would help him learn the gesture for when people were leaving.

Liza agreed before asking, "Are you growing attached?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, cause I wasn't really paying so much attention to her as I kept my mind on Magda until I was sure she was behaving.

"To Aiden." Liza replied and I caught the intent from her mind, she was meddling because of what her and Grace had been talking about earlier. I wasn't gonna make it so easy for her.

"Well, he's easy to hold." I said, bouncing Aiden and he giggled.

"Yes." Liza agreed and she was smiling at me, imagining what it would be like if I had a son too and our boys could grow up together, although that was stupid since she lived all the way here and I lived in America. I gave Aiden back to her and decided to meddle myself.

"So what time does Mal get home?" I asked as I went back over to the chairs to sit down.

"Around six. It depends on traffic." Liza replied as she followed me.

"Do you ever get lonely?" I asked, and Mom shot me a warning look, but it was too late, I'd gone there now.

"As I stated earlier I have not had the time. Why do you question it?" She snapped.

"I guess I'm just hoping you'll decide to come home." I said, putting my arm around her cause I did miss my twin being close.

"Stop bugging her about it. Liza's got a nice home here." Grace said as she sat down on my other side.

"Ok." I said with a pout.

"She'll move back home one day." Grace stated, and that did make me brighten up a little.

"So what you got planned for tonight then?" I asked, because I was starting to get hungry again and also a little bored just sitting around, I'd prefer running somewhere or sneaking away with Grace.

"That is none of your business I'm sure Brother." Liza retorted and I groaned at her bad attempt at humour.

"You know that's not what I meant." I replied.

"I think perhaps we should eat outside tonight. The weather is fine and it will give us the room we lack inside to sit down together." She stated.

It wasn't quite what I wanted to hear, but then I realised it would give me something to do. Liza had some trestle tables in one of the sheds at the bottom of the garden. I got these out and Grace helped me set them up side by side while Mom went to fetch chairs from the house. Liza came out with a tablecloth and by the time that was on it looked like one big table. Dad in the mean time prepared dinner and it was all set out by the time the girls came back from the field and Mal came home. He looked tired, which was weird to see a dhampir look tired, he found the work exhausting and it was coming home to Liza at the end of the day that helped him through it. It made me question if he was really happy with his job. I had to talk to him at some point, I just knew I had to, if he was unhappy then he should just move back to America with Liza, of course it could be that it was the end of the week and the hours were catching up with him. I'd have to check.

Mal went to have a shower after we ate and he looked a little more alert by the time he came back and Liza returned from upstairs. We'd had a long flight and hadn't slept much even then, but we weren't quite ready for bed, so Grace, Mags and me stayed up with the rest of them until it was clear that Magda was going to sleep in the chair if she didn't get to bed soon. Billie agreed to take her up to bed and they went up together.

Us adults turned in not long after, not that I was complaining because it meant alone time with my Grace. As soon as we were inside the room Grace leapt up into my arms and started kissing me. I leant back against the door as I returned her kisses, working up to discussing what her and Liza had been talking about earlier, unless it could wait, it wasn't as if she'd want to jump right into things without discussing it first. There was a lot to think about before trying for another baby.

It did distract me a little and I had to talk to her about it even as we fell on the bad together.

"You want another baby." I said out loud.

"So you heard my private conversation with Liza." Grace replied with a frown as she ran her fingers along my arm.

"Well it was hard not to." I said as I lay down next to her and she turned to face me. "You and Liza were both thinking about me and it was hard not to catch what you were thinking about."

"I wish you hadn't overheard." She said sadly.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I didn't want to discuss it yet. I was gonna save it until we get back home." She said.

"Why? We can talk about it just the same now." I pointed out.

"But if we talk about it now then…" She trailed off sadly.

"Then what? You think I'd want to get right into it now?" I asked.

Grace nodded and I laughed.

"It's not funny." She growled and punched at my shoulder.

"Sorry." I replied. "It's just you know I wouldn't do that. It would be stupid to try right now. If we tried tonight and you fell pregnant you'd be getting into the midst of morning sickness when we're travelling home. I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable like that."

Grace smiled.

"Anyway, we have to time it right. I'd love to try for another baby ASAP, but if we were to do it now it would be a bit of a squeeze on the Res. We'll have to wait until Hunter and Olwen move out then we can try." I stated.

"But then I'd have to go off Res to have the baby so Carlisle can attend to me." Grace said sadly.

"You wouldn't have to go far. There's no one in the Cullen house and it would take them two days tops to spruce it up enough for a labour ward. All the equipment is there, it might be old but we could make it work." I said as I brushed her hair back.

"I guess we'd have to discuss it with Carlisle." She said.

"When we get back we could take a ride down to Oregon to talk to him." I suggested.

"Magda would like the day out." Grace said.

"Yeah." I agreed.

Grace smiled, putting her hand on my cheek for a long moment.

"Are you really ready for another kid?" She asked.

"Grace, I'm with you on the whole Magda needs a sibling thing. And we always talked about having more than one. If we weren't in the middle of uprooting to the Res I'd wanna get down to it as soon as we got back." I replied.

"That eager for my body are you." She teased as she pushed me onto my back and rolled on top of me.

"Can't get enough of you Grace." I growled, leaning up to meet her lips and she hummed against my lips before I pulled back. "Truth is Grace I was gonna bring it up in a few months once we were settled on the Res, but this way we know now in advance. That it's what we both want, and when we're gonna do it."

"Yeah. By this time next year we'll have two kids. A little girl and a little boy." She mused as she lay against me.

"We could have another daughter." I observed.

"Well only time will tell." Grace said happily, as she moved her lips up to mine and we began to kiss.

With our discussion out of the way it was much easier to let go and we made love for a while before we settled down to sleep.

* * *

**Grace**

I lay in the dark room, Tony was asleep with his head lying against my breasts. He was snoozing happily after another marathon love making session that left me tingling all over. But my mind was still unsettled. I couldn't seem to settle it, I guess because of the time difference and anyway, I was thinking over the conversation we'd had. I don't know why I was feeling so disgruntled, I more or less had my way. I guess it was that it wasn't just my want now, it belonged to the both of us.

We're married so it's stupid that I should feel put out by the thought of sharing something with my husband, but it was to do with my thoughts not being my own. It would have been nice to have a week or two to think over it myself, to look at it from every angle. To worry before I finally brought up the subject with Tony, even though I would have been certain he'd say yes.

Now that had been taken away from me. It was one of those little niggling disadvantages of having a telepathic husband, a lot of the mystery was taken out of things. I wasn't mad with Tony, after all, he was just trying to make it easier for me, but sometimes it took the fun out because friction wasn't always a bad thing.

I needed the bathroom so I slid from beneath Tony and stuffed my pillow into his arms so I didn't disturb him. I pulled on my robe and went into the toilet. I thought while I peed, about moving to the Res. Most of me was excited, but part of me felt daunted, I'd never lived anywhere other than the Stables. Sure I'd stayed away from home when I was in college, and I'd spent a lot of time travelling about during the time I was waiting for Tony to grow up, but still the Stables had been my home all the while.

I couldn't really say that anymore, we were moving on to the Res, onto Tony's ancestral land and the Stables wouldn't be mine anymore. Well we'd still own it, but other people were gonna live there, make it their home, maybe have a load of kids of their own, I really wasn't sure. Whatever, it wouldn't be my home, just a house I owned.

I think I knew this day would come, that Tony would want to run as a wolf for a while and I couldn't deny him that, I know how much he'd missed out not being a proper part of a pack. It hurt the wolf within him and I didn't like his wolf to hurt. I knew this day would come, and soon once Magda was born, there was something about becoming a parent that made you look at the things missing from your life and how you'd like to arrange them in your kid's life. I knew that we'd move to the Res and really I couldn't let the Stables stand empty, the old building wanted people to live in her, and that's why I finally cleared out Mom and Dad's room.

They'd been dead a decade by that point, but I'd never got around to clearing out their room because it was admitting they were gone forever. They were my only family when they died, at least the only family that mattered to me since Prue had been missing. At that time she could have been dead for all I knew and all I had was Mom and Dad's room exactly as they'd left it before they went on that skiing trip that killed them. It was as if it was just waiting for them to come back and they could have, because I wasn't allowed to see the bodies and I could pretend in my mind that they could come back at any time and return to their room. That's why I would never clear it out.

Then I found out how they really died. Cursed by synthetic werewolf virus because they wanted to stop their friends hunting them. They'd torn each other apart when they changed for the first time, unable to recognise each other as lovers, only as opponents. It made me sick to think about what those last hours must have been like for them. The man who'd ordered it was a werewolf himself now, cursed by a disposable teen they were planning to bait with savage dogs. In a sense it seemed right, an eye for an eye, the punishment fits the crime, but there was a part of me that wanted to track Ferguson down and tear him apart. The worst part was that I knew it was my human half that hungered for the gory vengeance, my vampire half was more pragmatic and could see that having to live out his days as a child of the moon was a much more torturous fate for Ferguson than the several minuets of pain followed by oblivion any death I meted out to him would bring.

Finding all that out sent me into mourning them again, and at that point I was getting used to my new life as a half vamp. I guess I was a kid again in a sense, even when Tony and me got married, it was much easier to just stay in the tower room than face growing up and clearing out Mom and Dad's room. Moving in there and finally becoming an adult.

I had to bite the bullet when I got pregnant, it made more sense for me and Tony to go into the master bedroom and our kid to have the tower room. So I finally cleared it out, and although I did cry once the room was empty it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and it was like something had lifted from me, like the ghosts of the past were exorcised. It was a relief, but now I knew that part of it was emptying the house to let me move out. It was no more than bricks and mortar now, no longer my home. I was going to live somewhere else.

"Grace? Are you ok?" Tony asked popping his head around the door.

"I just needed the toilet." I said. "I'll come back to bed in a minuet."

"Can't sleep?" He asked.

I shook my head.

"You should have woke me." He said with a sleepy smile.

"One of us needs to be alert for Magda." I said as I flushed the chain and washed my hands in the sink.

"But that's the beauty of being here, Mom and Dad will look out for her." He said as he pulled me into his arms.

"It would be wrong to put on them like that." I replied as I wrapped my arms around his broad chest and lent my cheek against him. "And I only needed a pee anyway."

"Is something bothering you?" Tony asked in his careful I've-accidentally-read-something-from-your-mind-an d-didn't-mean-to voice.

"I'm just jet-lagged." I murmured. "Why don't we go back to bed and you can pull me up onto the dreamscape. If we spend the night there I'll soon sleep."

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong?" He asked, and I knew it would be for the last time, at least for tonight.

"I was thinking about my parents, how much Mom would have loved Magda, that's all." I lied, even though he'd know I was lying, he'd know that I didn't want to say more tonight. "I don't want to think about it now though."

"Then don't." He whispered as he kissed my forehead.

If I'd suddenly stopped worrying I would have killed him for alpharing me, but he was just wishing me peaceful thoughts. I slipped off my robe and pulled him back to bed with me. This time Tony spooned me, pulling me into his chest and wrapping his long strong arms around me to protect me from all the ills of the world. I felt better now, safer. I knew Tony would look out for me and that home wasn't a place anymore, home was Tony and Magda and wherever they were I would be happy. I drifted to sleep wondering what I'd been so worried about in the first place and then spent a happy time on the dreamscape with Tony imagining our life on the Res.

I had a hundred and one things I wanted to see in Wales, but it didn't seem like we were going anywhere other than the farm. I couldn't stand just staying on the farm though, so Tony and me went for a walk. Magda opted to stay at the farm because she was enjoying playing with Aiden. There was a lane network and we began following it, we didn't see much traffic once we got past the entrance of Hafod Isaf.

When we came to cross roads Tony used his mind to navigate us away from people, we were scouting, trying to find places we could run if we wanted to. We wouldn't be able to run in the lanes, but the fields beyond were clear and with little traffic in the lanes we could run if we wanted to. Our scouting expedition proved advantageous that night.

Essie and Tobias decided to baby sit all the kids, that way Tony and me could go on a date. We doubled with Liza and Mal who led us on foot down into the town where there was cinema. We caught a movie and then had a meal, but it was clear that they wanted to be alone as much as we did. They had somewhere to go, Tony'd caught mention of a cave from their minds, but didn't pry further. They had somewhere to go, but we didn't. There was our room, but if we went back there and Magda wanted us then I wouldn't be able to deny her.

In the end Tony remembered he'd seen a tent in the shed when we were getting the trestle tables out for dinner. We went to fetch the tent and some of the spare blankets from the linen chest in our room. Then we headed out, moving silently through the lanes, going fast since it was dark, until we came to a small stand of trees. There wasn't many, you probably wouldn't be able to call it a wood, but it was thick enough to hide our tent and give us a little copse of privacy.

With all our discussing the future done we could just have fun that night. A lot of fun was had in trying to find a position that didn't have Tony all cramped. We found the right spot and it was a good time. We stayed out well into the small hours, only returning to the farm because we wanted to be there when Magda woke up in the morning.

* * *

**Tony**

Our stay was getting off to a slow start family wise, Grace and me had managed to make fireworks, but we could do that back home too. I'd come here to spend time with my sister, but so far all we seemed to do was sit around the farm. I did get to speak to Mal on Sunday though.

Dad had made roast dinner for lunch, but we all had big appetites and Mom thought we should cook out on the charcoal grill even though it was overcast. Liza didn't have any charcoal, or even a grill. So I volunteered Mal and me to go get it. Liza thought it would be good that us boys got out and the women could stay behind to have some girly time. I offered Dad along when she said that, but he declined, he was going swimming instead.

So Mal and I went in his Land Rover to fetch a grill and charcoal along with the list of food Liza had given us. We were driving along a winding road that looked down over patchwork fields when Mal said, "So out with it."

"Out with what?" I asked.

"Whatever it is you wanted to get me on my own to talk about." He stated.

"I though we'd be better doing the lugging." I said with a shrug.

"Come on Tony, you and Liza are so alike when it comes to setting me up for a talking to." He said with a smile. "So what have I done wrong?"

"Nothing." I said. "It's just you looked exhausted on Friday, I was wondering if you were as happy in your job as Liza thinks."

"That it?" Mal asked with a relieved chuckle. "I thought I'd done something to offend you."

"No." I said. "So?"

"It was Friday. It's been a long week and I had my most exhausting client last thing. An hour appointment turned into two and I couldn't even point out the cost because he's there by court appointment. He's a repeat offender and now his lawyer got someone to declare him mentally unstable. He's not, he just knows how to play the system and I have to sit there, listening to him talk about how his tragic childhood led to his life of crime. All I can think is boy bach if only you knew, your life is nothing compared to mine. But I can't. I just got to sit there with tea and sympathy, spouting generic advice and give him a stamp of sanity at the end." Mal said warily.

"That's enough to bring anyone down." I observed.

"Worst thing is I can't even discuss it with Liza, I shouldn't even discuss it with you really, but you're not going to tell anyone and you won't be here long anyway." He said.

"If it makes you so unhappy why not leave?" I asked.

"Because I shouldn't let that one bad client spoil it for me." He replied. "Come on, there must be some customers that made you hate serving in the shop some times."

"I guess." I conceded.

"And did they make you want to quit?" He asked.

"Well no, but I wouldn't have been stuck in a room with them for over an hour." I replied.

"This isn't about me and whether I'm happy in my job is it?" Mal said. "You want me to quit because you want Liza to move back home."

"Maybe." I admitted grudgingly.

"You might be telepathic, but I'm a psychiatrist, it's my job to figure out what's bugging people." Mal said with a wink, then he sighed. "It would have been so much easier if I could have found something in Washington."

"Well it was six months ago, there might be something available now." I observed.

"I couldn't do that to Liza now. She's got her mind on living here for a while, she'll be starting her course now in two weeks, she won't want to leave now. Maybe next year I can find something when my contract ends anyway." Mal stated.

"What if you never find anything in the States?" I asked.

"Then I'll have to go into something else, but once Liza's got her teaching license I won't feel so bad about taking a low paying job then. Right now though I feel like I have to make it up to her, after all she worked flat out for two years while I got my PhD, she deserves to train for the job she wants now."

"It's weird." I said.

"What is?"

"Liza says she's doing this for you. You say you're doing it for Liza. Does either of you even want to be here?" I asked.

"Yeah. This is the land of my people." Mal said. "And I do want to be here, but I don't mind living in America either. Sometimes I think I lived in America long enough, but I know I could live there permanently if Liza wanted me to. Liza is my home more than any one place on this earth. Wherever she and Addie is, I'm happy."

"Good answer." I said. "But is she safe here?"

"You think I won't look after her?" Mal demanded.

"Well half the time you're not even here, but I'm talking about the fact that Liza thinks your mom is a ghost." I explained.

"She doesn't think Mam is a ghost." Mal said with a sigh.

"She does. I saw it in her head." I insisted.

"Mam's moved on. She was here, but she moved on once I found her journal. She was stuck here but Liza helped her." Mal stated.

"Liza helped your ghost mother?" I asked, finding it hard to believe.

"You say that like there's no such things as ghosts." Mal said amused.

"Well just cause I'm a half vamp doesn't mean I got to believe in everything." I said. "Anyway, Liza's never seen ghosts before."

"And she can't anymore either." He said with a shrug.

"What do you mean?" I asked with a frown.

"I didn't know it about Mam, well I was only three when she died, but she could see the dead. When Liza came to Hafod Uchaf she boosted Mam's power and of course took on an aspect of Mam's power. It made it possible for them to communicate."

"Your wife was talking to your dead mother, do you find that freaky?"

"A little." Mal admitted. "But on the other hand it helped too. When we came back here and opened up their room all that grief I'd been ignoring for most of my life came rushing back. It was a help to know that Mam had moved on, gone to heaven or wherever with Dad. It helped to know that Mam had seen me grown up and met Liza and knew she was a grandmother. I like to think she told Dad as soon as she got up there."

"Probably partying with Renee, Billy and Charlie." I observed.

"It's nice to think that all our relatives who can't be with us are all together now." Mal mused. "Wonder what they're saying about us."

"We should probably stop that angel from turning on the tap, oh too late they can't have a barbecue now." I said as the rain started to splat heavily onto the windscreen. "You think we should turn back?"

"Do you want to be the one to tell Liza we didn't carry out her orders?" Mal joked.

"Ok. Let's go get the stuff, but can we really have a barbecue now?" I asked doubtfully.

"There's a sheet of tarpaulin we can string up. Why don't you phone back and ask." Mal said as he handed his phone to me.

I scrolled through his address book, he didn't have many more numbers than those belonging to my family. I couldn't find Liza's name but then I realised he wouldn't put her number under her name he would store it under his pet name for her. Duchess.

I hit call and it rang twice before Liza answered.

"What's wrong Malachite?" She asked.

"It's me Sis. It's started raining." I said.

"Thank you for the weather forecast Brother, I did not realise." Liza retorted sarcastically.

"I'm just telling you because we're supposed to be getting the barbeque." I reminded her.

"Hold on a moment." I heard the movement of air and Liza's voice sounded distant. "Mother, could you speak with Tony while I finish changing Aiden."

"Ok." Mom replied and then she came on the phone. "Was up?" She asked.

"Are we still gonna eat out? If you want to, Mal said there's a tarp you can string up." I replied.

"We're well ahead of you guys. Tobias and Billie are already putting it up." Mom stated.

"Cool. Well we won't be long." I promised.

We said goodbye and hung up.

"You're right, we need to get the stuff ASAP, they're already putting up the tarp." I told Mal.

"Good job we're here then." Mal said as he pulled into the lot in front of a superstore.

It didn't take long for us to find what we needed, although I was surprised it was so busy on a Sunday. Mal said it was nothing unusual, most people assumed it would be quiet on a Sunday so they all turned up and it became busy. Our chat on the way back wasn't serious, we were just catching up on unimportant crap we always talked about, like pretending we both knew what we were talking about when we were discussing sports although we didn't really follow any.

We'd be gone maybe an hour when we got back to the farm Mal set up the barbecue under the blue tarpaulin stretched between the house and the barn. Even though the rain was coming down quite heavy now, it was dry enough beneath the tarp that we could eat out, although we didn't stay out much later than eating. Magda came with us to watch TV in our room once we'd finished with food, Billie was going off to help Arwel again. Mom and Dad were swimming and Liza and Mal were putting Aiden to bed.

The next day we went out, although Mal had to go to work, the rest of us went to a museum that let you go underground in an old coalmine. A lot of the way I had to duck my head, and was kinda glad we couldn't go all the way to the coalface because it had been raining, cause the guy giving the tour said that I would probably have to crawl along the tunnel. It was a good tour, and Magda liked it a lot, apart from the part where we all had to turn off our helmet lights and witness true darkness. She'd clung to me and Grace as the darkness enveloped us and the tour guide told us how kids as young as four would have to sit in that darkness, rats biting at their toes, eating all their food while they listened out for the pony drawn drams carrying the coal so they could open the vent doors. How sometimes they weren't quick enough and they'd get crushed by the rushing pony and the heavy, laden dram. She was worried that we'd leave her there to tend the doors and only felt better once we turned our lights back on and were moving again.

She forgot all about her worry when we reached the surface and spent time telling Liza all about underground. Liza hadn't been able to go down because Aiden was too young. We spent the day there and it was late enough to get dinner ready for Mal when we got back to the farm. Billie went camping that night with Arwel and his two friends. Liza was worried about Billie being the only girl there, but the guys didn't think of her as a girl, well they knew she was a girl, but each of them knew the other two would kill them if they tried anything with Billie. They wouldn't do anything to her, and deep down they knew Billie would probably kill them anyway.

Because Billie was camping out Mags wanted to as well, but she was too young to go with Billie and her friends. Mom camped out in the yard with her and she thought it was even better than walking so far away because she was sleeping outside but didn't have to go to the toilet in a hole in the ground.

We went other places through the week, but Wednesday afternoon Mom suggested that Liza and me should go have a talk, have a proper twin bonding session while we could.

Liza took me out up onto the common, showing me all the places we could ghost that I wish I'd known a week earlier when Grace and me were looking. We ended up on top of a rocky outcrop that gave a good view of the valley down below. As I looked out over the vista I felt a little of the enlightenment that filled me whenever I looked out from my favourite spot above the Pines.

"I got to admit it's pretty here." I said, but it had a flaw. "Even if there is no trees."

"Not that you could live here because you'd find it hard to run as a wolf." Liza said, almost sadly, but not having the room to run as a wolf wasn't the only reason I wouldn't move here.

I shrugged and lay back on the ground, my head resting on my hands while I thought about how to explain this. Liza and me felt things mostly the same, our thoughts were so connected at times our brains were one big mind. But there were things she didn't feel, and not because I'm a man and she's a woman, but because I'm a wolf and she's not. I usually avoided pointing out the differences, but this time I had to explain to her so she could know why I could never live so far away from the Res.

"I've never liked being too far away from the Res. Tregarran's ok cause that's my physical home if not my spiritual home, so I don't feel displaced there. But if I go too far away from either of them I feel weird after a while. I wonder sometimes how Mom coped in Volterra all those years. It's like having part of you missing it's like…well remember when you went to Cali and cut yourself off from me?"

"Yes." She said with a sad sigh as she sank to the floor and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"Remember how it felt?" I asked, and I'd always felt our twin bond was similar to the wolf bond, although the separation from Liza did hurt more, I could always feel the distance from the packs too, like an itch in an amputated limb.

"I do." Liza said, still looking out over the valley and I'd hurt her a little, she hated it when I reminded her she wasn't so perfect, not that I had a problem with her imperfection, but my borderline OCD sister did.

"Well it's like that." I said, kinda wishing I'd gone for a different example now.

"Do you feel it now?" Liza asked, looking at me, her curiosity had overrun her fear of imperfection.

"Not so much, but I think it's cause you, Mom and Grace are here, Magda too, and Billie and Dad of course. It's all that's connecting us together that makes me not think too much about Tregarran or the Res." I explained.

"Do you think perhaps it's the people and not the Res?" Liza suggested and she had a point but then again La Push and all the lands surrounding it for miles around was the land of our ancestors and it did call to me, but Liza never believed me about the spirits that had gone before.

"Could be, but then maybe not. You see I think this time it's not so bad because of the decision I've made." I said, figuring this was probably the best time to tell her I was moving to the Res, which I was sure she wouldn't mind, but maybe she'd feel put out that I was moving into Grandpa Jake's house.

"You are moving to the Res?" She gasped, taking it from my mind as we started to become entangled. "When did you decide this?"

"Me and Grace have been discussing it for a while, and well she wants another kid so we might as well get settled there. It'll be good for Mags anyway, to get used to the kids there before she'll be phasing with them, forming her own little pack." I said and Liza watched my imagination.

"You want for her what you never had." She murmured about Magda.

"I had you, we were a pack together." I assured her, because growing up that fact had always made up for not being able to be with the packs on the Res.

"It is not the same." Liza disagreed as if I didn't know.

"Well no it's not the same as the pack mind, but I did have you. Magda doesn't have that connection. If our next kid isn't a vamp wolf I don't think she'll have that connection either." I said, wondering if I should admit this, what if Billie overheard?

"But you have it with me." Liza said, not getting where I was going, which was annoying.

"You're my twin Liza, it's different." I said with a sad sigh as I sent her the fact that my bond with her was stronger than the one I felt with Billie because Liza was my twin and Billie wasn't.

"There's a good chance your next child will be telepathic too." Liza said in reassuring tones.

"But there's a chance they might not be and where does that leave Mags?" I demanded, then sighed. "Anyway, it doesn't affect you any. You live all the way out here, me moving to the Res ain't gonna matter."

"No." Liza agreed. "And I suppose it gives me more incentive to visit. I have not been there in years and it will do Aiden good to visit his ancestral lands when he is old enough to appreciate it."

"See, there's advantages already." I said with a grin.

"How will it work exactly? Will you defer to Uncle Hunter?" She asked, going back to my role on the Res.

"At first, but if the pack accepts me then I'll take over as Alpha so him and Olwen can go live near Marlin for a while. I think Olwen needs the chance to get to know her mother properly again and she can't exactly do that on the Res." I explained.

"What about Grandpa Jake?"

"Granny Ness just bought Pine Hollow." I said, realising now was the time I admitted that I would be living in our grandparents' house.

"The first house on Olympic Drive?" She asked.

"Yeah. It was up on the market and Billie nagged them into buying it." I explained.

"Why is she so obsessed with claiming Olympic Drive for the vampires?" Liza wondered.

"I think it's just to belong somewhere." I said carefully, and a little guiltily because I'd built this theory from something I'd got from Billie's mind without meaning to. "She gets lonely and frustrated that she doesn't fit in anywhere. I try to make her belong, but to her we're grown ups. She might as well be our niece. And it has nothing to do with being half vamps cause even if we were human we were eighteen when she was born."

"I wish I could do something to help her, but I know there is only so much of my advice she is willing to take. There is also a limited amount of friendship I can show her before she suspects me of humouring her. I wish we were closer in age so that we could be friends as well as sisters." Liza murmured.

"I guess we'll work it out once she's grown up." I said.

"Which may be sooner than we think. She is of a different mind set to us." Liza said with sisterly insight that didn't stem from telepathy.

"I know. She is a teenager through and through and there is not that voice in her head." I said, glad that I could finally share these observations with someone.

"Do you think perhaps I created that voice for myself and it affected you too?" Liza mused.

I didn't buy that though.

"Nah. I just think it's how you feel in yourself. Maybe it's even how you're brought up. We were kinda kept kids as much as possible. Maybe it's because Mom and Dad weren't there and the rest of them wanted to keep us as young as possible to allow us a childhood with our parents if they came back in time. Billie's been allowed to grow up how she wants. If she wants to act like a kid she can, if it's like a teen…"

"Yes. Mal was very much grown up by the age of seven. Although he now claims he knows he was still a child at that age. I think that is merely adult hindsight, in the sense that most teenagers think they are grown up but in reality they are still very much immature." Liza said, skirting the whole he lost his virginity at eight thing, but then I didn't like to think about the one guy Grace had gone with in our long time apart just to see if there was something tying her to me. She'd found out that yeah, I was the only guy for her, but I still didn't want to think about it and I could see why Liza wouldn't want to think about Mal in that way either.

"While we could see the difference." I found my mouth answering while my mind wandered.

"Yes." Liza agreed, but she was confused over my point and I had to think about it for a moment too.

"You know maybe seeing into each other's minds we could see the kid still without realising and that's why we could feel that little voice." I said as I figured it out for myself.

"Perhaps." Liza said, then she laughed. "Musing in this manner is something we have not done in a long while."

"Yeah. Nice to be doing it again." I agreed sincerely.

"Yes." She agreed, but quickly hit me with, "When you move to the Res will you live in Grandpa's house?"

"Yeah." I agreed since I couldn't exactly deny it now. "It'll be a bit of a squeeze at first, but there are four rooms there after all. Hunter and Olwen will have his old room, Grace and me will have Grandma and Grandpa's old room while I think Keelie is already in Charlie's room so Mags will be in Mom's old room."

"Then Granny Ness will be moving immediately?" She asked.

"Yeah. We'll more or less be doing swapsies. They were gonna stay at the Stables for a bit before moving on, but Lilly's gonna keep an eye on things there for us now. She'll be happier being closer to Tibbi and Auntie Layla. And of course direct access to the trees she's been missing in her little apartment in town." I babbled to stop her thinking too much about me getting our grandparents' house.

"Will Bob be moving in with her?" She asked, angling for gossip now and this was something I could gossip about.

"He hopes to, he's just trying to figure out how to tell Merial. Although Merial is waiting for him to move out so she can move Ian Riley in." I said, before realising I was now gossiping about things that I probably shouldn't.

"Ian Riley? You mean Mr Riley English?" She gasped as if it was the greatest scandal ever.

"The one and the same." I confirmed since there was no point denying it now.

"How long has that been going on?" She asked and was impressed that Geri and her hens hadn't got a hold of this and clucked it to death.

"I don't know. Years maybe. Probably from when we were debating." I said, because I wasn't certain, I just caught the moment of shared nighttime memories when they were both in the shop one morning and it was clearly something that had been going on for a while.

"But that is well over a decade." She gasped, giving Merial and Mr Riley props for managing to keep it secret in our town of fishwives.

"You know how Merial is about her Bobby, she didn't want to pressurise him." I explained.

"Then tell him so that he will feel free to move out without guilt and then she can move in Mr Riley." Liza suggested.

"I can't because that would be meddling." I said warily because I had my own rules about acting on what I found out through my powers.

"Can you not arrange it so he can accidentally overhear you mention it, or possibly for Merial to overhear you mention his desire to move in with Lilly?" Liza suggested, but I just didn't have her knack for 'accidentally' saying things I didn't want people to overhear.

"Nah. That would be cheating." I said, rather than admit I wouldn't be able to make it convincing. "I'll just tell him to man up, grow a pair and cut the apron strings already."

"You'll go for the guy approach?" Liza asked.

"Well we are guys." I said, wondering if she sometimes forgot that.

"If it works…" She began.

"It will." I cut her off and realised this conversation was getting us nowhere fast and our kids would be wanting us soon, so I sat up and stretched out. "Anyway we should probably get back, Mags wants me to read her that damn book again tonight."

"And Aiden will be expecting me to prepare him for bed." Liza stated.

"Yeah. Can you believe we're parents now Sis?" I mused as I pulled her into a hug. "Who'd have thought it all them summers ago when we were running barefoot on the Res?"

"It does beggar belief that you could be so responsible Brother." She teased.

"Oh really, well I'm not the one who used to make animal noises in the bushes to scare the tourists." I reminded her as we started walking back to the farm.

"As opposed to all those strange rules and rivalries you had with the other boys on the Res? How many times did I have to bail you out?" She countered.

"Once." I reminded her. "And that was only cause it was your fault anyway."

"I thought you bared me no grudge over that incident." She said, close to upset.

"Well I don't, but I never would have had to face the forfeit if you hadn't needed comforting." I said anyway, too far in brother mode to stop myself.

"I know Brother, and that is why I fought Peni for you." She said in a small voice that betrayed the feral little thing that introduced Peni's nose to the floor.

"Oh man it was so funny when you kicked his ass." I laughed. "He didn't live that down for a long while."

"He should have thought twice before accepting a duel with a dhampir." Liza said primly, as if she was commenting on someone who'd committed some social faux pas. "Had he not busted his stupid nose and started bleeding I would have truly bested him."

"Yeah, he got off lightly." I agreed with a chuckle.

We went on to muse on the fact that those kids we used to play with were now grown and married and had kids of their own. Liza had a point that we should go visit them, but then I might get to see them when I was on the Res since their grandparents were still alive. They had to visit them at some point right? It led to me pointing out to Liza that I wouldn't actually be on the Res by Christmas and we would be at Tregarran for it. She was happy with that and the promise of us spending Christmas together carried us to the farm.

When we got back Grace was out with Billie and Magda. Mom got Aiden ready for bed and Dad put him to bed. Me and Liza sat out in the back yard and carried on our conversation, taking advantage of our time together before we were apart again. It was like it was just me and Liza for a long while, even when Mom and Dad joined us, when Mal got home, when Grace came back from the cinema with the girls. It was only Mom's comment about getting a word in edgeways that made us realise we were hogging the convo. Even when we let the others join in it was hard to tell my thoughts from Liza's. It was like being kids again.

When we all said goodnight to each other I made sure I cut myself off from Liza though, last thing I wanted was a first hand, live account of her sexcapades with Mal, and I didn't want Liza looking in on my time with Grace either.

"I liked tonight." Grace said as she guided me over to the bed when we returned to our room. "You and Liza were like you were in the old days. You were the Black twins again, more like it than I've seen in years."

"Our talk helped today." I said as I kissed at Grace's throat. "But can we not talk about my sister now? It's a little off putting."

"Well then I won't mention it." Grace crooned. "Just lie back and just be us."

I lay back and Grace led us that night, and as always when she led it was great. She was more adventurous and way more imaginative than me. It was the last night for a while that we could just let go like this. Yeah we had another night here, but since we'd be taking another silly o'clock flight we'd be wanting to sleep tomorrow. And it was my birthday since it was past midnight and I liked my gift from Grace, one I'd make sure I'd return on her birthday, I was sure Mom would baby sit if I asked.

Party day was obey-Liza's-every-command-if –you-didn't-want-to-lose-a-limb day. She was busy sorting out the marquee, but there was some stuff she still needed to get. I found a way to get Grace, Magda and me away from her instruction for an hour or two. We went shopping and I drove us to the store Mal had gone to on the Sunday.

When we got back the marquee was up and packed with our family. They'd all come over for our birthday. It was a great time, one of the best birthdays Liza and me had since we were kids. It made it hard to leave the next night, but that was cause I felt like I was leaving Liza behind. The reconnect was a good thing, don't get me wrong, but it did make it harder to climb on that plane and feel the connection between us stretch into almost nothing, only knowing it was there when I concentrated.

I gave up on it by the time we touched down in Seattle, I was only torturing myself, anyway, I had to concentrate on my little family. Grace and me had to make sure Mags got to bed ok and to settle down ourselves. We had to get back to our time zone after a week being eight hours ahead. It hadn't been so bad when we were on vacation because it didn't matter if we slept late or whatever, but I had to get back to work two days after we got back so I wanted to be back up to speed. I knew I would, but the truth was I couldn't wait until I could pack in this job and move to the Res. I was gonna become a carpenter working for the Atearas. I'd always thought of carpentry as a hobby I didn't want to make my vocation, but I'd had a change of heart and now I was ready to shape wood for a living while running the border at night. I couldn't wait until we moved to the Res because it would finally feel like growing up.

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**I'm glad I managed to get this up today :)**

**Next week I'll be posting DHch41 and I'll post RPWch2 in two weeks time. I'll alternate them as much as possible**

**Thank you for reading**

**Please review**

**Gemma x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer**

**This chapter is dedicated to Noble, Fadewind, M-Bianca94, Alphabloodwolf, Cara Gracious, Patricia, Lsb123, and BellaNessieCullen**

**Sorry this is a little late, I've been out of sorts this week, but I'm hoping to be back up to speed for the next chapter of DH**

* * *

**Tony**

I placed my arm around Grace and she leant against me and sighed deeply as we looked out over the garden pond. This was our last night in the Stables and I knew she was gonna miss the place, but we'd made our decision to leave for a while. But she deserved the chance to say goodbye to the old place and this seemed the best way to do it.

_Everywhere I look there's memories here._ Grace thought as she snuggled into my warmth. _That's the tree me and Prue built a swing in every summer until she was twelve and more into boys._ She said, pointing at a big sycamore tree with low branches on the other side of the pond before changing her aim toward the bench just visible at the side of the house._ We used to sit there when knew Mom and Dad were due back, waiting in whatever weather, even though they'd punish us cause I'd get wet in the rain and they were worried cause my heart. But I just had to sit out there, to see their car pull in, or wait for the flash of headlights when it was dark and know it was them cause no one came out this far. _She adjusted her aim again. _And the pond there, I remember the night I found a disorientated wolf trying to claw his way out and we spent an intensely chaste night in the barn that sparked my imagination and inspired me to become a writer._

_That's what inspired you to be a writer?_ I asked, I mean I knew it wasn't the only thing, but Grace wanted me to keep the conversation going even if we were covering old ground. It was nostalgia, pure and simple.

_Well it was my imagining of what might have happened if I hadn't known you were only seven._ Grace replied and then sighed in amusement. _All those times when I was sat out waiting for Mom and Dad, you weren't even born. _

_Yep. You're my sugar mommy._ I replied and kissed her head, Grace laughed which was what I'd intended.

Grace moved to sit across my lap and she placed her hand to the back of my head, playing her fingers into my hair that I'd let go a little since the guys on the Res wouldn't call me a hippy for having hair longer than half an inch like the guys at the yard would.

"We will come visit here, right?" She asked.

"Course we will." I assured her as I traced her spine slowly with my right hand. "Mom would be pissed if we didn't bring Mags to see her every other weekend."

Grace laughed.

"So would Prue." She said, "And that's the last thing we want."

"Yeah." I agreed.

"What will happen if Prue wants to visit us?" Grace asked, tracing the pattern of my plaid shirt.

"She can just come along and visit us." I replied.

"Are you sure about that? The Elders weren't exactly thrilled about you bringing Mags and me along. They seemed ok when they learned that Ness and Hunter were leaving, like they got some sort of one in, one out system going, but…" Grace trailed off with a frown.

"Prue will just be visiting and they never had a problem with me and Liza." I said with a shrug.

"How do you know?" Grace demanded, giving me a steely-eyed look.

"Prue is hardly a threat." I observed.

"What about her babies?" She countered.

"As long as I got notice I can smooth things with the Elders." I promised. "But if it's just Prue on her own I'm sure there won't be a problem."

"But it won't be just Prue on her own." Grace said with a sigh, and she kinda had a point.

"As long as I know in advance." I repeated since there wasn't much more I could say than that.

"Sorry, I just thought about it today. I think I'm just thinking of negatives in the hope of postponing the move." Grace admitted sheepishly.

"Why?" I asked, cause I hadn't really picked it up from her.

"Because I won't be living here anymore. I'm gonna miss the old place. Look at the fun we've had here." She said sadly.

"Well sure we've had fun here, but we can make new fun on the Res." I coaxed.

"But we're gonna be a little cramped." She said, with a pout.

"Only to start with." I whispered and kissed her light and quick. "Once Hunter's sure I'm settled he's going to live with Marlin for a while. She has a lot of room there and I think there's some rite stuff Olwen wants Kyelax to learn and they have to be close to their tribes' wise woman for that. It also helps Marlin is their foremother from what they've explained. You know how Olwen is with her English when she doesn't want you to understand something and she won't explain in Trailax cause she thinks it's betraying her people."

"She can explain it in English but I think you're right, she doesn't want us to understand and so we won't actually learn whatever the rites are. Remember them with the blessing ceremony for Kyelax? She was a daughter of their tribe and had to be honoured in the right way and only wise women were allowed to attend." Grace said, she'd been a little put out at the time by the implication that she wasn't wise.

"You know they meant witch." I said diplomatically.

"But technically Olwen isn't a witch, she's a story teller." She stated.

"Like you?" I asked.

"Like me." She agreed.

"Yeah. But you're a story making, she just remembers the tales of her people's past. That makes you better in my books." I said, pulling her closer to me and kissing her.

"I'm your imprint, you got to say that." Grace teased.

"Well got to or not it's still true." I replied.

Grace laughed softly as she teased my lips with hers. Then we were kissing hungrily as Grace began to unbutton my shirt. She loved getting me shirtless, and it wasn't like I felt the cold. It might have been March and still cold out, especially once the sun disappeared behind the mountain, but it didn't bother me. It didn't bother Grace either, not anymore. Her remembering earlier had stirred my own memories about that night I fell in her pond. I'd gone asleep in my wolf body, didn't think none about the possibility of phasing back in me sleep, but I did and I woke up with her feet against my legs. They were so cold.

It didn't change any eleven years later when we got to live out the fantasy that had grown from that night. Her feet had been cold against my legs even after we'd made love. That had been the last time she ever felt the cold…

_See. _Grace thought, derailing my own thoughts. _There's just so many memories here._

_I'm not arguing with you there._ I said. _But we got our memories here and we'll make more there. Anyway, there's a really good/bad memory from the Res._

_What do you mean?_ She asked, our mind talking letting us carry on kissing as we conversed.

_When we camped at the lake and we got close to making out, that's the bad bit, but the good was taking you dream walking for the first time._ I replied.

_Yeah. That was good._ Grace thought as she stopped kissing me and leant her head on my shoulder instead, her fingers drawing patterns on my chest. _The dream walking bit, not the bit where I got our boundaries blurred._

_Well the Res is different._ I said. _Especially back then when it was the place where I could just be me. Now I got that wherever you are._

_Really?_ Grace asked, sounding amused.

_Yeah._ I replied.

_So if I was down in town right now you'd feel fine wandering up Main Street as a wolf?_ She asked.

_It would certainly give Geri something to gas about._ I mused.

_Wow, I can see her outrage now, _"We used to feel safe in this town but now you can't walk down the street without some wolf or other turning up to frighten the living daylights of god fearing folk."

I laughed because Grace had got Geri's tones down to a T.

"You know if we're ever gonna abandon the Pines for a long while and Geri's still around I might just trot through her garden the night before we leave. Even better if it's a full moon." I joked.

"Face it Tony Black, you're bad to the bone." Grace growled with a wicked grin. "A real delinquent."

"I blame my friends, that best one of mine is a real bad influence." I replied and we both laughed before we were silent for a long while.

"So." Grace said. "One last time for old times sake?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, my mind lost in my thoughts for a moment.

"Do I really need to spell it out?" Grace asked as she kissed up my jaw line.

"Oh right." I stammered.

"Because I was thinking that we've made love everywhere in the house, but we never got the chance to do it out here." She said as she linked her hands behind my neck and leant back to look into my eyes.

"The barn doesn't count?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope." Grace said, shaking her head to emphasise the negative.

"But what about all those times in the trees?" I asked.

"Wasn't really on our land." She said with a shrug.

"You really wanna?" I asked in surprise since we hadn't been so adventurous since Magda's birth other than on vacation.

"We won't have another chance again." Grace whispered into my ear and her breath tickled delightfully. "Or not for such a long time that it's hard to really imagine. So tonight is our last chance and Magda's over at your parents so we don't have to worry about her and you'll sense if anyone decides to drop by."

I made a show of considering for a moment until Grace frowned at me, pouting. I smiled and kissed her.

"Like I could resist you." I said with a growl.

"Then come on." She said, pushing my shirt away.

"Your wish is my command." I murmured as I started to pull up her t-shirt.

"Wait, wait, wait." She said, pulling away from me. "I got a better idea."

"You're in charge." I reminded her.

"How about we move over there." She said, pointing to the furthest corner of the pond where the lawn gave way to a wild flower area before merging into the pine trees.

"Ok." I said, and we got to our feet. "But before we get all the way around there…"

"Got em right here." Grace said, patting the back pocket of her jeans. "I wasn't certain I'd go through with bringing it up, but you know…"

"My girl guide strikes again." I joked, putting my arm around her as we walked over to our meadow.

"Always be prepared." Grace joked.

We spent the night outside, which was weird considering I was certain Grace would want to spend her last night here inside the house, but I guess it didn't matter as long as she was happy.

The next morning we had to get up and make sure everything we were taking with us was packed under tarp on the flat bed of my truck, there wasn't enough room in the house in La Push to take everything, so the generic stuff were being left behind, the more personal stuff stored in one of the attic rooms at Tregarran. Dad had cleared it out especially for us. With everything packed into the truck all that was left was to hand the keys over to Lilly before we went to pick up Magda from Mom and Dad's.

Lilly was excited to finally have a whole house to herself, although she didn't let it show, it was clear in her mind. She was happy to finally be out of that little one room apartment, the only place that she could afford for a while since she never had the chance to build up any kind of savings on the island, heck I doubt she even knew what money was before coming to America. It wouldn't have been something Aro would have wanted her to know. Bob was there too, he'd left his mother Merial in charge of the shop for the day if any of the staff needed him.

"Fare ye both well on your journey cousins." Lilly observed as she hugged Grace. "I wish you well in your new life."

"Well it's not that much different from here, just a relocation." Grace replied.

"Yeah, it's you guys who're making the bigger change than us. Finally moving in together, you crazy kids." I said and socked Bob on the arm.

"Yeah, about that…" Bob said rubbing his arm.

"You still haven't told Merial?" I asked in shock, today was the day of the big move for Christ sake.

"No." Lilly said a little tersely.

"But I don't want to leave her on her own." Bob complained to Lilly as if they were continuing an argument they'd already had.

"Just man up already and tell her." I stated. "You're thirty five, I'm sure she'll understand that you want to move in with Lilly. She's probably expecting it, you have been dating for over five years now. You clearly intend to take things further and hell weren't the whole revealing to you the truth to do with the fact that you were talking about moving in together?"

"Well yeah, but then Mom had that bad bout of flue and I worried about what if she was home on her own and ill like that." Bob said with genuine worry, but it was also an excuse.

"Then you can just sit with her while she's ill, but otherwise you can be with Lilly. And come on, she's been looking after you for thirty five years, don't you think she'd like a little independence?" I asked.

"Why? What have you read?" Bob asked suspiciously.

"Nothing." I said, probably a little on the quick side.

"We got to get going." Grace said, covering my ground for me. "Mags is expecting us and with saying our goodbyes to Essie and Tobias, well we want to be on the road in enough time to reach the Res before dark."

"Of course." Lilly said. "We won't keep you any longer, Bob has some things he must discuss with Merial."

"Yeah." Bob said with a sigh. "I'll talk to Mom later and anyway I'll spend the night here with you Lilly-Blossom."

"Thank you Bobbit." Lilly said and kissed him.

"We'll leave you to it." I said and climbed into my truck.

"Take care of her, she's an old lady and needs TLC." Grace said as she hugged Lilly one last time. "But I know you'll take care of her anyway."

"Of course I will Cousin Grace." Lilly replied and hugged Grace back.

Grace nodded, pulled away from Lilly taking one last wistful look at the Stables. She was remembering her life here and how it would be different from now on. I pulled away, clamped down my mind to let her have those thoughts in private. Mostly I tried to stay out of Grace's mind, but being around her for long periods of time my mind slipped into hers without thinking and she was ok with me reading background buzz, but when I knew she really wanted to keep her thoughts to herself I tried extra hard to stay out. After a minuet Grace climbed into the truck and she leant on the rolled down window, watching the Stables as I started the engine. She waved when I pulled away and I felt the sadness roll through her, too strong for me not to feel it.

"You know the Stables is still our home." I said.

"Not when Lilly and Bob live there." Grace said mournfully, sitting back in her chair, but she now had her elbow resting on the open window and leant her cheek against her fist.

"Nah. They're just house sitting while we're on vacation." I said firmly.

"An extended vacation." Grace said with a snort.

"Well extended or not, we'll be back in the Stables one day." I observed.

"Really Tony, I'm just mooding a little, I think once we're on the Res and settled a little I'll feel better. But you know, this is the first time where the Stables won't be classed as my home even if I am living elsewhere. They were always temporary places of residence, but now, now the Res will be our home. I just need to adjust my mind and I'll soon be good."

"I'll stop pestering you now then." I said.

"Thanks." Grace said with a smile and I carried on up the drive of Tregarran since I'd slowed so we could finish our convo without being overheard.

I pulled up outside the front door since it would save time over parking in the garage. Magda had flung open the front door and was jumping up and down on the top step as Mom, Dad and Billie came out to stand behind her.

"Are we moving today?" Magda asked.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Yay." Magda said. "I'm gonna live with the wolves, won't that be fun Mr Tiggles?"

"Aren't you gonna take the rest of your babies?" Billie asked.

"Oh yeah." Magda gasped. "I still gotta take them. Will you mind Mr Tiggles?"

She pushed the wolf into Billie's arms then run back into the house.

"She had pancakes and bacon for breakfast." Dad informed me as he passed Magda's backpack to me. "She ate it all and an apple."

"Although the fruit was more of a struggle, she made up for it by downing a pint of orange juice." Mom added. "But don't worry, we made her go to the bathroom five minuets ago so hopefully you won't have any stop offs."

"You know you could drive out with us." I observed.

"You're more than welcome." Grace said suddenly beside me.

"Nah." Mom said, shaking her head. "This is your adventure, it would be wrong for us to crash it."

"And I got a ton of homework I got to get through this weekend, there's a math assignment I have to work on with Zeke and we do need to consult on it." Billie added, still holding Mr Tiggles in her arms.

"Yeah, that can take up your time." I agreed. "I guess there's spring break."

"We'll be there." Billie said, holding up her thumb and winking.

"We will." Mom confirmed. "We'll arrange with Carlisle about staying in Rose Cottage."

"You're coming to visit us." Magda asked excitedly as she returned lugging the box, sorry dollhouse, Zeke had given her. "Will Zeke come too?"

"Well I don't know that's up to Prue." Mom said carefully.

"I can ask her, she's coming now." Magda said without any doubt, and sure enough Prue was heading over with Tibbi and their foster kids.

Their bus came around the corner and Tibbi driving pulled up next to my truck. Zeke jumped out first, which was strange because he usually held back with his shyness, but I guess both Billie and Mags was here and they were his best friends. I knew he didn't get on with Ritchie much, they were just too different. I thought that maybe Ritchie picked on him when the adults weren't around, but I couldn't be sure.

"We're not too late." Prue said as she got out of the bus, holding Moesha by the hand cause she had a habit of rushing off after anything that caught her eye.

"We were gonna drop by Northern Heights on our way, we just wanted to pick Magda up first." Grace replied.

"Well we came to see you off from here instead Sis." Prue stated as she pulled her baby sister into a hug.

"Thanks." Grace said.

"This is gonna be weird right, you heading out into the world while I stay here." Prue mused.

"Tell me about it." Grace said with a chuckle.

"Zeke, will you come visit us on the Res?" Magda asked.

"I guess I will if Mom is coming to visit you." Zeke replied lowly.

"Well you can come." Magda said. "I will write to you, will you write to me back?"

"Of course I will cousin." Zeke promised and I realised he was only speaking aloud cause Billie was hear too.

"And you too Ritchie?" Magda asked the dark haired kid who gave her a barely could be bothered shrug.

"I don't write." He said blandly.

"Oh well don't matter." Magda said dismissively.

"Are you gonna put your house in the truck?" I asked Magda before she dug a bigger hole with Ritchie.

"Yeah." She said and began to haul it down the steps toward the truck.

Zeke took the box off her and carried it to the truck. Billie joined him to lift the tarp so he could slot the box into the space I'd left for it and they pulled the tarp back into the place. All the while Magda was conversing with them with her telepathy, linking their minds together too. I was impressed, I hadn't been able to do that at her age unless it was linking Liza to someone else and that wasn't too much of a stretch anyway. She did try and include Ritchie but he wasn't interested, he sat on the bottom step playing on his phone.

"See you in two weeks." I said to Mom and Dad as Grace was saying goodbye to Prue.

"Yeah. You coming for dinner?" Mom asked.

"Course we are." I replied with a grin. "And we'll bring you all the news from the Res."

"You'd better." Mom laughed as she hugged me.

"Well I guess we'd better get going."

"Have a safe journey my son." Dad said, taking hold of my elbow in a Roman greeting before pulling me into a manly hug.

"We'll call you when we get there." I promised.

"You'd better." Mom replied.

"I will." I said and kissed Mom's cheek before I went back down the steps to say goodbye to Prue and Tibbi.

"You look after my sister you hear." She said as she hugged me. "Or I'll have to dust off my psycho Prue skin."

"I promise." I replied.

"Good luck Cousin." Tibbi said, clapping me on the shoulder. "I hope you have many happy years in your new home."

"Thanks." I said, putting my arm around Grace who was getting that wistful, don't want to leave look in her eye again. "You gonna say goodbye Mags?"

"Ok Daddy." Magda replied and she went around everyone giving hugs and kisses and goodbyes.

We all got into the truck and waved to our family as I pulled off. I guess I did feel a little pang about moving so far from Tregarran, but I felt a bigger pull, calling me to the Res now the wolf knew it was happening for real. If it all went right he'd be out running before the end of the week.

* * *

**Grace**

Tony took the exit road that turned off Olympic Drive just after the Cranston farm. It made sense since it took less time to get onto the highway than if we went down into Olympic Pines and then headed for the highway toward Forks. Only problem was that it meant I caught one last glimpse of the Stables, not a good one, just the hint of the stone tower through the trees, then we were heading down hill through trees until they started to give way to open country toward the sound and the home I'd known all my life was gone.

We passed the turn off for the Forest Hill Community, the closest we got to suburbia in these parts. It was a good ten miles outside of Olympic Pines, but the kids there had still gone to our school. Kinda unfortunate since it meant that Naomi did too. Although I guess if they had their own High School I would have gone there since I'd attended elementary in the sprawling complex at the heart of the housing estate and I never would have met Tony.

I looked over at him now and I felt myself smile. I'd been lonely before he came into my life, there was no other word for it. Naomi had made me a pariah and she was so convincing that I'd believed her myself that I didn't deserve happiness. I'd accepted that I was in for a lonely time in high school, who'd wanna be friends with me? It seemed like that would happen, even Prue didn't want to be seen in school with me, I know now that was more a 'little sister cramping my style' thing than anything to do with me personally. At the time it didn't seem like it and just added to the overall sense of never gonna make any friends. Then there was Tony, tall and muscular, but shy and friendly. And his smile, his smile was shy but welcoming and even though I was suspicious of his motives at first, he soon proved a friend and because of him my high school years were what they're supposed to be. Happy memories. There was a few bumps but that's only to be expected, you can't have it happy all the time.

Now he was mine, all mine and I couldn't understand how I'd got so lucky. You couldn't ask for a more attentive husband and now we had our daughter who was very much like Tony just without the shyness. She even looked like him and I didn't care so much, because the best thing she'd inherited was his grin and now she was grinning at me from the middle seat of the truck.

"Will I get to play with Keelie every day?" She asked.

"I don't see why not." I replied.

"That will be fun. Is there any kids my age?" She continued.

"A few." I said, trying to remember who had kids Magda's age that I knew.

"And they're all like brothers and sisters right? All the kids play together?" She asked excitedly.

"Yeah." Tony agreed.

"And I can play with them?" She asked, just to be sure.

"Sure." He said.

"But?" She asked, catching the shade of doubt from my mind.

"Well you can't expect them to just want to play straight away, you got to give them time to get used to you." I said.

"What about Timmy?" She asked, he was a half vamp wolf who aged rapidly too.

"Well he's your cousin sort of." I conceded.

"And we're both half vamps so we'll have to stick together right?" She prompted.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Cool." Magda said before she started whispering to Mr Tiggles.

"You know the first thing I'm gonna do when I get there." I said, looking for a bright side.

"What?" Tony asked.

"Go for a walk along the coastal path." I replied. "Care to join me?"

"Sure." Tony said with a wide grin.

"And Magda too." I added, smiling back at him and he rolled his eyes, he knew I'd meant a family stroll, but teasing him showed I was in a better mood, or at least getting there.

"Well as long as Mags is careful, we don't want history to repeat itself." Tony replied.

"How would history repeat itself?" Magda asked.

"When I was a kid I fell off the coastal path. If it wasn't for Daddy I would have drowned." I explained.

"Oh, well I will be careful then. I don't want to fall into the ocean there. It's full of pointy rocks." She said with a firm nod.

"Just remember that when you're seven." I said, ruffling her hair.

"What'll happen then?" She asked with a frown.

"I'll leave that for another time." I said, and hugged her to me, and I felt the excitement start to build.

I'd said it before to try and make it real, to make leaving the Stables easier, but I hadn't really felt it until that moment, home was wherever Tony and Magda were. As long as we were together then it didn't matter. The Stables was just bricks and mortar, the memories were locked in my mind anyway. There'd been years where it was my main place of residence, but I did everything I could not to go back, and yeah part of that was to do with not wanting to be too close to Tony until he was old enough, but the other part was to do with the fact that it was empty. Mom and Dad were dead, Prue was missing and it just didn't feel like home anymore. Remembering all that made me realise that if it was a choice between the Stables and being anywhere else with Tony and Magda, I'd choose my family over a building any day.

We spent a while just listening to the radio, we could do that, the three of us, just enjoy the quiet together. Magda leant against me, stroking Mr Tiggles from his head to his tail. If she'd been tired she would have snoozed, but she was passed the nap stage now even if she'd only just celebrated her second birthday. My baby girl could pass for anything between six and eight, it was a perception thing, she was about the size of a six year old, but her intelligence surpassed that and you would swear she was older. Sometimes I couldn't believe she was mine she was so absolutely perfect, but it also made me frightened of what the world would do to her when she was grown up. I guess that was every parent's fear, but then it would come a lot sooner for me and I didn't want my baby girl to grow up before she had to. In fact I kinda envied Liza in having a kid with a proper childhood. The technicalities of living forever could wait for the future so long as I had my baby for as long as possible. If she was as human as Liza thought Aiden was, well there were ways to change that. Look at me, I was human, now I'm dhampir, I'm warm and breathing, not cold at all.

"Momma, do you really want me to be human?" Magda asked in a sleepy voice.

I looked at Tony quickly, he usually shielded my mind when I was in the midst of thinking, but then I remembered, he'd pulled away to let me have my moping thoughts in peace. I'd wanted that, but now I wished I hadn't. I didn't want Magda to think I didn't love her exactly as she was.

"Now why would I want that Maggie-Anne?" I asked and kissed her head.

"You were thinking it." She said, looking up at me.

"No." I said. "I was just thinking that if you were human like Addie I wouldn't care a bit, but you're my precious little girl and I'll always love you."

Magda smiled at me before settling back against me, and the rest of the journey went by in that comfortable silence until we were passing the turn off for the Cullen house, although we couldn't actually turn that way from this side of the high way.

"We're nearly there!" Magda cried excitedly as she sat up and put Mr Tiggles on the dash so he could see out the windscreen. "We're all going to the Res today, the Res today, the Res today…" She sang in her own made up song to the tune of 'Mary had a little lamb'.

"And we'll stay there all year long." Tony added in the same tune, which made Magda giggle.

"We'll play games with the wolves and kids, wolves and kids, wolves and kids, we'll play games with the wolves and kids…" Magda sung.

"We'll play them all day long." I ventured.

"That's right Mommy." Magda praised with a grin, before she pulled the wolf back to her. "Oh Mr Tiggles, isn't it great. We'll soon be in our new home and we can play on the beach every day."

"Wave to Forks." Tony said as we entered the city limits and made our way swiftly through it to the coast bound road that would take us to the Res.

"Hello Forks." Magda sang as she waved Mr Tiggles' paw.

"Now say bye." Tony encouraged as we left Forks behind and was now well on our way to Quileute land.

"Goodbye Forks. I'm gonna live on the Res now." Magda said.

Tony chuckled and I couldn't help join in, especially now my mood was definitely in excited territories. Finally. We were nearly at our new home, I could almost smell the ocean air…

Weird thing was, I didn't know whether it was down to my link with Tony or just because I was a half vamp, but I could sense the wolves around us. It was like they were a guard of honour or something following us into town. They tracked us all the way through the resort near the hotel that most people got to see, and way to the furthest reaches of the one mile square the Quileute officially owned as far as the mostly Caucasian government was concerned to where the little red house the Black family had owned for countless generations was located.

Hunter was out the door, ready to help us inside with our belongings as soon as we pulled up outside our new home. Olwen came out not long after with Kyelax sitting on her hip, it was hard to believe she was in fact six months older than Magda, she looked several years younger.

"You made it kid." Hunter said as he pulled Tony into a great big bear hug.

"Well I'm your nephew ain't I?" Tony asked as he playfully pushed him away and they got into a little scuffle.

"Don't you hurt my Daddy!" Magda commanded as she jumped on Hunter's back.

"Oh two against one." Hunter cried as if it was a great conspiracy, "I'll have to see about that."

He grabbed Magda from his back and began tickling her until she was hysterical with laughter.

"Perhaps we let them move in before you tickle Magda to death?" Olwen said as she gave me a conspiratorial wink.

It was still weird even now to be in league with Olwen. She'd been responsible for my death, well ok that never would have happened if I hadn't pulled the gun in the first place, but still, she'd shot me. Then she'd stalked Tony in a way that had me convinced she was after him. She definitely wasn't now, she was Hunter's imprint after all, but I always had that rush of thoughts whenever I saw her, but I quickly pushed them aside because Olwen was a good friend once you got passed her old fashioned ways.

"Maybe we'll leave them to it and just us live together." I said.

"Yes and they can go on fighting and never join us." Olwen replied.

"What does that mean Auntie Olwen?" Magda asked, escaping from Hunter a lot easier than he thought she could and walking up the wheelchair ramp, that hadn't really been used much in years judging by the moss scum, to join us.

"That if they don't behave they can live in the shed." Olwen replied as she picked Magda up and kissed her cheek before putting her back onto the floor along with Kyelax. "Why don't you both go on into the family room to play while we bring in stuff."

Magda nodded and she took Kyelax hand before leading her into the house.

"I guess we'd better bring in these boxes since the boys are too busy scrapping." I said to Olwen as we went down to the truck.

"Come on Grace, we were only messing." Hunter said as he let go of Tony and they both rushed to pull the tarp off the back of the truck.

"This is like the moving pictures of the old cinema with the funny men, the tall thin one and the short fat one with the moustache." Olwen said with a laugh.

"Laurel and Hardy?" I asked.

"That's them." Olwen chuckled. "I like when they hit people with the long plank of wood. It's very funny."

"We're not Laurel and Hardy." Tony complained.

"No, you're more like the Chuckle Brothers." I replied with a laugh.

Tony and Hunter looked at each other before each taking an end of the new mattress Tony and me had bought to come here.

"To me." Tony said, walking backwards.

"To you." Hunter replied.

"To me."

"To you."

"They really are like those funny men with the moustaches who always do things wrong and drive the car with pedals." Olwen giggled.

"Definitely." I agreed.

They went up the ramp to take the mattress in. I went to the truck and pulled out the single mattress for Magda, lifting it easily by the handles on the packaging. It felt ridiculously light as I carried it up the ramp following the boys. Olwen grabbed one of the boxes with 'Magda' written on it. We carried them to the room on the right hand side of the corridor just off the kitchen. This room was small, it barely contained the single bed against the wall with the window and the wardrobe against the corridor wall. There was little to no floor space, but Mags had all the outdoors now to play, and this had once been Essie's room and she had no problems with it. Sure she didn't have her princess room now, but then she had someone to play with all the time so I guess that made up for it.

I put the mattress onto the wooden frame while Olwen put the box on the floor.

"You not like it?" Olwen asked.

"I like it ok, it just needs painting is all. Magda will want it pink." I stated.

"We can paint it." Olwen said.

"Yeah." I agreed. "Mags will like to paint it out anyway."

"We will make a weekend of it?" Olwen suggested.

"Yeah, but not this weekend, Tony's gonna be busy with wolf stuff." I surmised with a frown.

"Yes. We will be pack widows for sure this week." Olwen said, putting her arm around me.

"You mean we won't get to see them much?" I asked with worry.

"We will see them, but running at night and work in the day, sleeping when they can, leaves little time for us poor women left at home." Olwen replied.

"Wait? What? I can't…I'll be banging my head against the wall if I got to play the little house wife, that is just not me." I said in panic.

"House wife is woman who stays home no?" Olwen asked.

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"You do that anyway with your writing." She observed.

"It's a little different." I said.

"Well you still write now?" She asked.

"Yes." I answered.

"Then carry on. And you will see Tony, I was joking. It is the joke of us partners of the pack, we see our lovers but we joke we never do." She explained before looking uncertain as she asked. "It is funny?"

"Yeah. I get it now." I assured her.

"It doesn't have to be all bad. You could give a reading of your book. I am a storyteller, but the reading seems strange to me. How can this on paper speak to me. I read enough for to get by, but I not got patience to read a book."

"Oh. I don't know…" I said, I got a little embarrassed when I had to read my work aloud.

"You are a story teller Grace. Better still, you are like me a story maker, but you've become complacent with the writing. I had to always speak it. If I had been allowed to grow into the woman I should have been I never would have blushed about my stories. Is it, should I say, you should not write what you can't speak aloud?"

"Well if it's only you and the kids are asleep…" I conceded because I really didn't want Magda overhearing my work. She could read it when she was older and that was ok with me, as long as she never wanted to discuss it.

"It is a deal." Olwen said. "And I will share my stories with you, the ones of my people you don't know yet."

"That would be great." I said with a smile. "Now I think we should probably go get some more stuff before the guys accuses us of slacking."

"Yes." Olwen agreed.

We went back out to the truck where Tony was taking out another box from the flat bed. He paused and turned to me, frowning slightly and I just knew we'd have a conversation later. I just didn't want it at the moment so I smiled at him before I got another box from the truck, one for our room, and carried it to the end of the little corridor and entered the room that had been the biggest in the house, originally the master bedroom, until Hunter's room had been added as an extension. I'd never actually been in this room, but now I was surprised by the size of it, it seemed almost unfair to Magda cause you could fit her room in here at least three times quite comfortably, maybe four at a stretch.

_She'll get Hunter's room when he moves on with Olwen so she'll have a bigger room than us_. Tony said as he put down the box he was carrying and put his arm around me in comfort.

_You have a point._ I said, leaning into him for a moment. _Now lets go bring in everything else._

It took us another ten minuets to get everything inside and then I had to organise, or at least get Magda's room straight before we done anything else. I wanted to make sure that she was set for the night even if it meant Tony and me had to sleep on box springs.

We went for a walk as soon as I was done cause Magda remembered that we'd said about the coastal path and wanted us to keep our promise. It was March so we dressed for the weather in cagoules in case there was any town folk around as the Quileute liked to refer to anyone who wasn't one of their own. I guess there was worse things they could call us.

_You're Quileute now._ Tony said as he put his arm around me.

_Are you sure? Cause I'm as white as you could get and I'm a half vamp. I don't see them welcoming me warmly anytime soon._ I said with worry.

_They welcomed Granny Ness._ Tony stated.

_But they knew her from a baby, I'm an unknown quotient to them. It'll take time for me to endear myself to them._ I observed.

_Well I got to as well. I'm the foreign king with a claim to the throne and I have to prove I'm worthy and not some foreigner only interested in the proceeds of the taxes and not the good of the people._ He replied.

_Tony, how can they not want you? You're kind and welcoming and have the knack of making everyone feel welcome._ I said firmly.

_Just like you._ He replied, kissing my hand. _I know it might take a while, but then that's what would happen anywhere you'd move, people wouldn't be sure until they got to know you. Once they do know you how could they not love you?_

_I hope you're right._ I replied as we watched Magda jump into the space close to the seagulls and sent the birds flying.

"Careful Mags, you don't want to go over into that ocean." Tony said, grabbing around Magda and pulling her away from the cliff edge.

Magda giggled.

"Seriously Mags, you don't want to end up on the rocks." I added.

"You're right." Magda said. "I won't go near the edge again."

"Make sure you don't." I stated.

"I won't Mommy." She promised before skipping off along the path.

_She'll be ok._ Tony promised me. _Half vamp reflexes don't forget._

_I hope so._ I thought.

_She'll be ok._ Tony repeated as we rounded a rocky outcrop before heading back inland toward a path that would take us back to the village.

"What are they doing?" Magda gasped, pointing toward the other out crop of rock where someone sailed through the air to dive into the ocean below.

"Looks like they're getting the season off to an early start." Tony stated.

"What season?" Magda demanded excitedly.

"Cliff jumping." Tony said.

"It looks fun." Magda said, holding up Mr Tiggles as if he could see.

"Don't even think about it missy." I warned.

"But it looks so easy." She countered. "I jumped off bigger rocks than that when hunting."

"It's a little different doing stuff when you're hunting and when you're not." Tony replied.

"Why?" Magda asked.

"Because of adrenalin." I replied.

"What's that?" She inquired.

"It's a chemical your brain releases to help you run fast and jump higher and survive things you wouldn't normally." I explained.

Magda put Mr Tiggles to her ear.

"Mr Tiggles thinks I could survive no problem." She announced.

"Mr Tiggles will spend the night in the yard if I think he's gonna lead you astray." I said firmly.

"No Mommy please!" Magda cried and I hurt a little to have to do it, but she had to know her boundaries for safety and also for secrecy, but my main concern was her safety.

"As long as Mr Tiggles promises not to give you bad advice." I stated.

Magda nodded as she held the wolf to her ear again.

"He agrees." She said.

"It's only for now Mags." I said. "When you're a member of the pack, then you can cliff dive."

"You promise mommy?" She asked.

"As long as I don't have to see you do it." I said despite myself.

"Daddy?" She prompted.

"Look Mags, you'll be able to do it, but you got to remember not to show off, cause you will have better reflexes, but showing off always leads to trouble." Tony stated and he was always better at this type of thing because he'd had to deal with being a half vamp from a young age.

"I will remember that Daddy." Magda promised. "When will I get to meet everyone?"

"I don't know." Tony replied. "I got to meet with the Elders first and then see where thins go from there."

"Can I meet the Elders?" Magda asked excitedly.

"You've already met them at different times." Tony said.

"But not all together." She stated.

"Kids aren't allowed to the council meetings." I said. "I'm not even allowed."

"You went once." Magda said, picking the info from my head.

"Yeah, but that was cause it was a trial and I was a witness." I replied, not going into things because Magda was too young to know the full details. "I guess I'll have to wait until I'm a wolf, it won't be that long anyway will it? How old were you Daddy?"

"Seven." Tony replied.

"So in five years I will be a wolf and then I can go to meetings." Magda said with a nod.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"I guess it's not so bad then." Magda said with a shrug before skipping on along the path and we made our way back to the house so we could have something to eat and Tony could shower before he went to meet with the Elders.

* * *

**Tony**

The meeting was due to start at eight, so me and Hunter left the house at half seven because it wouldn't do to be tardy on my first day. All the Elders were gonna attend and I didn't want to give a bad impression. Olwen stayed behind with Grace, neither of them were council members just yet, being the imprint of a wolf was no guarantee, you had to prove your worth. Granny Ness hadn't sat on the council either, but that was out of choice.

This really was something I hadn't thought much about until I was moving to the Res and I had to know these things, like the fact that the council and the Elders were two different things, the Elders having superiority over the council. Pack members were automatically part of the council cause we were in charge of the defence of the village, and we got to vote on stuff like that, but the actual running of La Push was done by the Elders. It wasn't strictly democratic, the general Quileute population didn't get to vote on who sat on the Elders council, but anyone could put their name forward and the other Elders would decide if they could join. The only people who were guaranteed a spot were alpha wolves, and only when they were active because the pack had to have representation. Of course the alpha thing was a more recent development when the pack numbers exceeded four because it would be a little stupid having twenty people there just because they could turn into wolves, and when you thought about the fact that some of them phased as young as fourteen it made more sense that they wouldn't get a say in the running of the Res when the alpha of each pack could represent the whole.

I wouldn't even be going to the other Elder meetings, council meetings yes, but they were once a month if that, usually they got called when there was an emergency. The Elder meetings took place every Saturday and the first Tuesday of each month. This wasn't a Tuesday or a Saturday, but they wanted to talk to me before I went out running and Hunter wanted to get me out running as soon as so the meeting had to be tonight. They usually liked to start these meetings a little early, like around seven so they could get home early, but the traditional woodcarving had use of the town hall before hand on a Thursday night. They were still in session when we got there, old Quill Ateara was walking around with the aide of his beautifully carved wolf head stick but otherwise he was surprisingly spry for a guy who was pushing one hundred. Of course he'd spent twenty years as a wolf waiting for Claire to grow up, but even for a guy of eighty he was still in good shape. He spotted us through the glass in the door and opened it up.

"What you two doing haunting the foyer for? Come in and make yourself useful." He said, gripping my wrist and pulling me inside, Hunter followed with a chuckle.

"You want us to teach Uncle Quill?" He asked.

"Not you, I think the carpentry skipped a generation, but Tony here, well I want to see what you can do and how better than to teach the young ones how to carve a groove." Quill said as he directed me over to a table where a bunch of six to ten year olds were sat working with bits of scrap wood. "You all know Tony." Quill said.

The kids looked up at me before they all nodded.

"Watch him carve whatever you want, he's real good." He said, tapping my shoulder before moving away.

The table was one of those kiddie tables like they have in kindergarten, not that I'd ever gone to one, but I remembered them that one time in the playgroup I'd taken Billie when she could pass for a toddler. The chair wouldn't do any good so I sat down on the floor with my legs crossed and pulled a chisel, a mallet and a piece of wood toward me.

"So what's it gonna be kids?" I asked, hoping it wasn't anything too difficult cause I hated carving in front of people, I usually ended up bleeding.

"A wolf." The oldest girl said folding her arms and I recognised her as Densi-Rae, Gabe Clearwater's daughter.

"Ok." I said with a shrug and started carving.

The wood wasn't really good for carving much more than grooves, but I guess they wouldn't give the best wood to the noobs. I went for the most basic wolf I could, talking through what I was doing, changing to a knife when I had to, until I had what was basically a wolf.

"Not Bad." Densi-Rae said with a nod as she pulled the wolf to her. "You should show us again next time and we can copy you. Make our own."

"Sounds like a good idea." Quill said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"Can I bring Mags? I'd like for her to learn too." I said, thinking that this would be a good way to get her in with the other kids sooner.

"Don't see why not." Quill observed. "The classes are free to anyone who lives here."

"Then sure, when's the next class?" I asked.

"It's every Thursday at seven." Quill said. "This is a community space so we share it."

I nodded.

"Well, clean up time everyone." Quill called and everyone stopped in the middle of whatever they were doing to clear stuff away. "Come on, we ain't got all night. Important meeting happening in," he checked his watch, "ten minuets."

I helped the kids to store their tools into a storage box and the scraps of wood went into another box. There were other boxes too that were being packed and they all went into one of the big cupboards that took up the whole end of the hall. Most of the tables and chairs were put away too, they could be stacked together which I thought made sense for a place that was used for a hundred different things. As everyone else filed out I helped Hunter set up the chairs into a half circle with one chair facing them. I realised that was my chair. I suddenly felt nervous.

_You'll do good kid._ Hunter said, clapping me on the shoulder.

_I hope so, but does it have to be so formal? It makes it seem like I'm on trial or something._ I stated.

_It's nothing like that. It just means that you can face everyone and talk to them easier. Believe me, it's better than being part of the half circle. Especially when you're near the centre._ He replied.

Just then Tina arrived along with Daphne and Jim Uley. Tina came and hugged me.

"You finally made it then kid." She said.

"Yeah." I replied.

"You should have dropped by, you'll have to come over for lunch some time this week. I know my little Boo is excited about playing with his cousin Magda." Tina said.

"And Mags is looking forward to meeting Timmy again. Maybe Grace could bring her over sometime tomorrow cause I got to go start with Mr Ateara." I replied.

"Come on Tony, I'm a little old for you to be treating me so respectful. I always told you to call me Quill, I'll even settle for Old Quill since Moira's eldest named her kid after his great grandfather." Quill said with a chuckle. "Guess I'd better go rest my old bones." He said with a shrug and went to sit on one of the central chairs.

Hunter went to sit in the centre chair and it surprised me a little cause Tina sat near the end. I thought they'd be together, they were both Alphas after all, but that wasn't how it worked I realised. There was elective processes, but hereditary also came into it and in that sense with Grandpa Jake off-Res Uncle Hunter was the chief. Would that mean I would be technically chief when Hunter left? That was a scary thought, I wouldn't like the responsibility cause I knew I wasn't ready to be that person.

I stood by the side of the chair on its own, I guess I could sit, but this seemed formal to me and I had too much of Liza's training going around in my head to sit until everyone else was present. Then I was worried it would make me look stiff and unfriendly. Ah screw it, most of them knew me anyway and knew I had my formal moments cause I was Liza's twin and we couldn't be completely different.

The rest of the Elders filed in. Sam, who now walked with the aid of a stick, but tried not to rely on it as much as possible, settled down on Hunter's other side. Emily obviously came with him but she sat between Quill and Tina, there was obviously a pattern here, possibly seniority as well as what part of the governing of the Res they represented. I wasn't sure who was what apart from Anyanka Pikehunter who obviously represented education and Dr Portia Toulin represented the health side of things. Leah came in, the most mobile of the original pack besides her brother Seth, who still acted like an over grown puppy, although he was pushing Kim's wheelchair in and setting her next to Sam before he sat next to her. That meant everyone had arrived so I sat down.

"Who said you could sit down?" Hunter asked.

"S-sorry Uncle Hunter." I stuttered as I started to stand back up.

"I'm just messing with you Tone, try to relax a little." He said with a grin.

"Ok." I said, settling into the chair that creaked a little under my weight.

"Seriously Tony we're not here to grill you, just check the best times for you to go running." Seth said.

I nodded but this felt too formal for me to feel at ease, having people looking at me, expecting me to talk. It was like being a little kid again when they were trying to get me to use my words instead of my mind talk.

"Well I think you'll be better off running Hunter's shifts since you'll be taking over from him anyway. And you're family and you've already run some with his pack." Tina stated.

I nodded before I found my voice, "Sounds good."

"It also means you get to sleep tonight." Tina said. "There's no set days like every Wednesday Hunter runs every Thursday I run, we alternate."

"That's a good way to do it." I conceded.

"You three agreed?" Sam asked.

"Yeah." Hunter, Tina and me said.

"That was quick. We're all done." Sam stated.

"That's it?" I asked in shock.

"Unless you got any questions." Sam said.

"Well there's only one, about Mags and school." I said. "Grace can tutor her in core subjects, but I don't think I'm as well versed in Quileute culture as I should be to train her to a proper level you'd expect for the high school here on the Res."

"Magda is more than welcome to enrol in school as soon as you feel comfortable with her going. We've made previsions for Timmy so having one more gifted child amongst the student body will actually be beneficial for them both." Principal Pikehunter stated.

"Oh. I'll talk to Grace and then we can come talk to you." I said in slight shock that it seemed so easy. "When's the best time to come talk to you?"

"Just call by the school office during teaching hours. If I'm busy Twain will arrange a meeting for you." Principle Pikehunter stated.

"Thank you." I said.

"Well let's get home, I'm sure Grace is just dying to hear what happened." Hunter said as he got to his feet and socked me on the shoulder as I stood up myself.

"And Olwen." I said.

"Well you know our wives." Hunter said cheerfully as we left the town hall.

"Shouldn't we be helping clear away?" I asked.

"Nah. They wanna talk about you a little while longer." He replied.

"What's there to talk about me?" I asked with worry.

"Nothing really, but new blood to the Res and all." Hunter said with a shrug.

"But I'm your blood." I pointed out. "I'm a descendent of Ephraim Black, just like you."

"Yeah, but you're also a little more vamp and Grace is town folk." He replied.

"She's not." I countered. "She's Viking, just like Olwen is Celtic."

"I think there's a little difference."

"Why? Cause Olwen spent millennia inside a rock instead of being descended through the years?" I demanded.

"I think this is just leading into pointless territory." Hunter said. "Really they just got a few things to talk about, like wondering if we'll all be squashed in the house. There's a house coming empty soon and they're wondering if you want to take it."

"But our house has always belonged to the Blacks. If we do take another house what happens when you move out? We can't let the house go empty or even let another family move in." I stated.

"You could move out then move back in." Hunter suggested.

"And let Magda settle in one house before making her move again?" I said in horror.

"Good." Hunter said. "If you'd wanted to move out I guess I'd feel a little offended. What? I'm not good enough to live with?"

I laughed.

"Like I'd ever think you're no good Uncle Hunter. I might have had all the stable male role models growing up, but you were my fun male role model, not to mention the whole mind reading thing. Grandpa Edward sort of gets it but not really cause he didn't have it with him growing up, but you did and you always knew the best things to say. And a lot of times it did seem like you were the only one on mine and Liza's side. I know that's stupid, but it's a hangover from Liza and wanting so desperately to know about Mom and Dad."

"I remember." Hunter said in a low voice and I realised he didn't like to think about the time Mom and Dad were prisoners in Volterra, I needed to change the subject.

"Look at us discussing our feelings like a bunch of girls. We should be downing beer in front of a game." I said and socked his arm for good measure.

"When was the last time you watched a game?" Hunter asked.

"Erm…I think it was the Buller County tournament back in school. Had no choice in the matter, there was nothing to do when we weren't actually playing." I admitted.

"So you're not into the game then." Hunter observed.

I shook my head.

"I don't mind playing but watching is crap." I stated.

"Well we'll find some other manly things to do." Hunter replied, socking me back on the shoulder and I rubbed my arm cause it actually hurt a little.

"Don't you hurt my daddy!" Magda said, ghosting up to Hunter pretty fast and scrambling up to sit on his shoulders to give him a noogie.

"It's ok Mags." I said, getting her down. "Now what are you doing out here in your PJs?"

"Mommy said I could wait for you on the porch." She said as I cradled her in my arm and started up the ramp. "But now I have to go to sleep."

"Ok." I replied as I carried her into the house.

_But I don't like my room, I think there's a ghost in there._ She said, switching to mind talk.

_There's no ghost Mags._ I stated as I stopped outside her door.

_I can hear something._ She said, burying her head into my shoulder as she held Mr Tiggles close.

_Well there's a lot of minds here on the Res and they're a lot closer than what you're used to._ I said as I opened her door.

_But they're scary._ She complained.

_You want me to shield you fully for tonight?_ I offered.

_I will do it Daddy. I want to practice._ Magda said as I carried her into Mom's old room where Magda's bright pink covers were now on the bed. _I'm getting good but I should practice more like Grandpa Tobias always says._

_It's always best to listen to Grandpa Tobias advice._ I said as I pulled back her quilt so she could climb up into bed.

_I know. _She replied as she leapt from the floor and landed against the pillows with Mr Tiggles pulled in close to her side.

"What book do you want to read?" I asked, turning to the bookshelf tucked under the window.

"Can Mommy read to me tonight? I like when she does the voices." She replied aloud.

"Since this is our first night here I'll go ask her." I said as I tucked the quilt in around Magda. "Have sweet dreams Mags."

"You too Daddy." She replied.

"Night." I said as kissed her forehead before I left to find Grace, but she was already at Magda's bedroom door.

_Small house, I heard her ask._ She said.

_See you in five?_ I asked.

_Well it depends on what Mags wants me to read, but hopefully yeah._ Grace replied before kissing my cheek and stepped into Mags' room.

I felt a little stupid going to my room when Grace wasn't there so I made my way to the little family room where Olwen was sat frowning at the TV.

"I still don't understand how this is entertainment." She raged. "Why put clearly ill people who have no minds into these situations. Where's the honour? Where's the sport? It's cruelty on a scale that the south men implemented on my people."

"I think Big Brother's a little different to the gladiatorial arena." I said, sitting down.

"They may not shed blood and kill these people but they take something much more important from them. They take their freedom and their dignity. They make them slaves. Better death than a slave." She declared.

"I thought the Celts took slaves." I said with a frown.

"Yes we did, because it was a fate worse than killing them. But we didn't demean them in the name of entertainment. Sometimes they brought stories from afar to add to our own, then they would entertain, but not in this way of making them, I have no idea what they are doing but I know most people wouldn't do it because it is undignified."

"Well you know, some people will do anything for fame." I said as I sat down.

"To be well known?" She asked.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"That is stupid to be known for being a fool." She said.

"There must have been some people like that in your day." I stated.

"Perhaps, but if somebody went around beating a drum without the sword arm to back it up we generally called them dead meat." Olwen stated.

"They're fame usually lasts about as long without the talent to back it." I said with a shrug. "Why don't you see if there's something else on? I heard they're rerunning Game of Thrones from the beginning on Gems of Old. You'd like that."

"If you recommend it then I'll see what I think." Olwen observed and she flicked through the channels quite easily until she came to the Gems of Old channel where they frequently ran old sci-fi and fantasy series from decades ago.

Hunter came into the room.

"Keelie's settled now." He said, dropping down beside Olwen and putting his arm behind her on the seat of the couch. "What we watching?"

"Something called Game of Thrones. Tony recommended it." Olwen said.

"Is this another one of your geek things?" Hunter asked, sounding bored.

"You'll like it Uncle Hunter." I promised.

"I guess I should give it a look see before I make up my mind." Hunter conceded.

"Game of Thrones isn't what you'd think of as our geek things." Grace said as she entered the room and sat down next to me on the other couch and snuggled under my arm.

"It's much too badass for that." I replied.

"I don't know, you're a bit of a badass geek." Grace said lowly before kissing my cheek.

"Maybe we'll leave you to it and head early to bed." I said, looking into Grace's eyes.

"It's only half nine." Hunter observed.

"I know, but we had a long drive today and if you want me to run tomorrow you'll want me fresh too right." I said.

"Yeah. So no all-nighters tonight." Hunter said with a chuckle.

I rolled my eyes as Grace and I stood up.

"We'll see you in the morning." I said.

"Night." Grace added.

Hunter and Olwen replied with their goodnights before Grace and I made our way to our room.

We settled down to sleep, after maybe an hour or two and the house was quiet apart from the breathing of everyone in there. We hadn't even heard Hunter and Olwen go to bed, but I'd been busy making sure we were safe from everyone's mind while we had our fun. I'd thought it might take us a while to get comfortable enough to make love, but then we'd lived with Prue and Tibbi in the same house, then with Mags in the same house, we were good at stealthy pleasure now.

It was a perfect end to our first day here on the Res and as I settled to sleep with my Grace in my arms I knew we were gonna be happy here. Even if there was a bump or two, the overall feeling of relief as I clicked into a place I never thought I had to, overwhelmed any doubt I still had. Grace, Mags and me would make it, I was certain.

* * *

**Thank you for reading**

**Please review**

**Gemma x**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer**

**This chapter is dedicated to Noble, Fadewind, M-Bianca94, Alphabloodwolf, Cara Gracious, Patricia, Lsb123, and BellaNessieCullen**

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**Tony**

I was looking forward to running the border even if it meant I'd be up all night, I didn't care cause this was what all my strength was for. My speed. My keen senses. They were all designed for protecting my people and now I finally had a chance to do it.

Since we were running together I left the same time as Hunter and we slipped into the trees behind the house to meet up with the rest of his pack, or only a third of his pack it appeared when we got to the meeting point half a mile north of the Res limit.

"Because there's no emergency it's pointless having all the pack out, so I got them on a rota. The numbering in no way dictates how I see them; it's just how I tell them apart. This is Team Wolverine." He explained as he put his arms across his chest and pulled them down to his side quickly like Wolverine detracting his adamantium claws.

"Team Wolverine?" I asked with a laugh.

"See, stops anyone getting upset." Hunter replied with a wink. "Hey my beta." He said as he bumped fists with Harry who was determined to keep phasing until Nikki showed any signs of aging.

"How's the pup holding up?" Harry teased as he ruffled my hair like I was a five year old.

"Well, we're about to find out." Hunter replied. "Where shall we have him run?"

"He's not a complete novice, how about he shadow Miles?" Harry said, talking about his oldest grandson who at fourteen still had a bit of the kid about the face, but otherwise didn't look much younger than him, like he was his kid brother or something.

I was used to this in vampire families, but when a wolf settled down with their imprint they usually stopped phasing. Harry's wife Nikki was a little different though, she was, well some kind of trans-dimensional alien who was still in her larvae stage. Once she let go she could travel anywhere in the universe at will but she'd never get to be Nikki again. I can see why she was reluctant to let go, but also curious about what she would see out there one day. Sometimes I wished her Aunt Ariana who was a fully developed trans-dimensional alien whatever would visit here on the Res so I could have a go of reading her mind. I was jealous that Liza actually got to meet one of them totally at random, but she said I was lucky not to have met her and I probably couldn't read her mind anyway.

"Yeah." Hunter replied to Harry's suggestion. _That way you can keep an eye on Miles while he thinks he's being entrusted with training the noob._

I nodded.

"So who's running tonight?" I asked.

"Us three, Miles and Rupert, the rest get to sleep tonight and run on Sunday. You really only need four to wolf the border when there's nothing big happening. The others are on alert just in case, but otherwise they can sleep." Hunter explained.

"Ok." I agreed.

"Once a month I take them all out together though, just to make sure we're still operating on the same wavelength." He continued.

"That makes sense." I stated, making notes because I knew this was all part of my alpharing lessons.

"Now that's all sorted, let's suit up." Hunter announced and the other guys stripped off without hesitating.

I'd run enough with them now that I didn't feel embarrassed about doing this. It saved on clothes and taking the moment to tie our shorts to our ankle meant that we had clothes if we needed them. Then I let the heat course through me and I phased.

I felt that burst of fresh senses as I began to smell things from the wolf perspective as I let my front paws thud onto the forest floor.

_We're running together?_ Miles asked as he came up on my left flank, the beta position, which I thought was weird if they were trying to make him think he was leading me.

_Yeah._ I said.

_This'll be cool, running with two Fangs._ He observed, using the word the Res kids had began to use for us vamp-wolves._ And I get to be your beta?_ He added excitedly.

I considered for a second as I took in the little wolf behind me, Miles himself was only fourteen and had just started phasing. I wasn't sure how good he'd be at the whole beta thing, but would it hurt for him to be it tonight?

_Just for tonight._ I replied. _I'm not even alpha, just learning the ropes._

_You'll be alpha one day though._ Miles said firmly and it was clear that he didn't want to remain a junior member for long.

_Ok. Enough chitchat. Time to take up positions._ Hunter said. _Off you go._

Hunter, Harry and Rupert began running, but Miles was waiting for my cue.

_You heard our alpha._ I replied. _Lead the way cause I don't know what border we're on._

_Yes sir._ Miles replied and started running to the south, which was one of the safest borders since the Coalition came into power.

_Just call me Tony._ I replied.

_But it's manners to call someone older than you 'sir'._ Miles replied.

_It is._ I said. _Unless they invite you to use their given name, which I'm doing now._

_Ok._ Miles replied, then turned around sniffing at the ground when we reached the south border. _This is it._

_Let's run._ I said and I took the outer position, running in a counter clockwise direction, which everyone else was doing right now.

_You're doing great._ Uncle Hunter thought toward me and I beamed.

_You're as new to all this as I am._ Miles realised.

_Well yeah._ I replied.

_But you're old._ He exclaimed.

I didn't find it offensive, he was only fourteen and so I guess being in my mid twenties would seem old to him.

_I know, but I've been off-Res all my life, I haven't been out running more than a handful of times and this is the first time I'm doing it for real_. I explained.

_This is my first time doing it for real._ Miles stated and he overshot our turning point when we reached Harry's scent.

_We're supposed to turn here._ I said.

Miles stopped and sniffed around a little.

_Gramps._ He thought. _Yep. You're right._

_Come on._ I said, running back the other way. _Remember to use your nose, we turn back this time when we reach Rupert's scent._

_Ok._ Miles said excitedly. _Have you ever killed a vamp?_

_A few._ I replied.

_But you've never been out running?_ He said in confusion.

_I still had to fight._ I replied. _But really kid, hope you never have to fight, it's never fun._

_It's not? But they all make it sound so great._ Miles observed as we reached Rupert's scent and turned.

_Why do pups always chatter?_ Rupert asked with a chuckle.

_What else are we supposed to do on a boring night like this?_ Miles complained.

_Boring nights is when stuff might happen._ I observed.

_Nothing exciting ever happens since the VCAC took over._ Miles said dismissively.

_Don't get cocky._ Harry warned. _Like Tony said, when it's quiet, stuff happens._

_Ok Gramps._ Miles replied, but he still grumbled a bit.

_Tell you what, why don't you and Tony come round to the northeast border and scout out as far as the Cullen House, we'll hem up the border._ Hunter suggested.

_What d'ya think Miles?_ I asked.

_You're the boss._ Miles replied.

_Run the border around to the northeast and spoke out from here._ Hunter thought, and we got his exact location before we headed north, passing Harry as he was heading beck to our border.

_Be careful, your mother with kill me, and your grandma will never forgive me if anything happens to you._ Harry said as he rubbed his head against his eldest grandchild's flank.

_Tony will look after him._ Hunter assured Harry._ He can look out for trouble with his mind._

_Make sure you do._ Harry said firmly as he looked as me, before running on.

_Come on Miles._ I said as I started running again until we reached the point Hunter had told us to break off.

I led Miles toward the Cullen House. He was a little skittish being out of the reassuring scent of the Res.

_Little different now?_ I asked.

_I keep expecting a vamp to jump out from behind every tree._ He said jumping back with his ears flat against his head when a bird rocketed out of a bush, spooked by our sudden appearance.

It would take us all night to get to the Cullen house if Miles jumped at every shadow. He needed a little reassuring, and I knew how to do that and give him tips on how to do this properly. So that he was using all the senses available to him as a wolf and not just the ones he was used to in his human guise.

_Feel that?_ I asked.

_What?_ Miles asked, distracted by something small and furry moving in the branches above us.

_The wind. Do you feel it?_ I prompted as I felt it ripple through my fur.

_Yeah. What about it?_ Miles asked.

_We're running into it. That means any vamps we run into are up-wind from us. We'd smell them long before we see them._ I reassured him.

_But I don't know what a vampire smells like._ He complained.

_Believe me you'd know_. I said. _But I'll show you when we get to the Cullen House. I'm bound to pick up one of their old trails._

_Don't go too far beyond the house._ Hunter warned. _Just in case._

_We'll just make a circuit, if I can't pick up a scent then we could go vamp skin later on and show him what a vamp smells like._ I suggested.

_Yeah. But make sure it's off Res if you do that, some of the pups can get skittish even when it's mine or Tina's scent_. Hunter advised.

_I'll stop on the way back then._ I said. _Quarter mile from the border?_

_We'll come out to meet you._ Hunter stated. _If you don't pick up any old trails._

_Ok._ I replied.

_I can track you anyway and Harry and Rupert are keyed into Miles so if there is any danger we'll know, but if you're too far away…_

_It'll take a while for you to get to us? I know._ I replied.

_As long as you remember._ Hunter stated.

I rolled my eyes and ran on with Miles at my side.

_So you said you fought some vamps_. Miles said, looking for something to take his mind off running outside our territory.

_Yeah._ I agreed.

_What happened?_ He asked.

_First time I ever came up against a vamp was when I was seven._ I stated.

_What? Seven? What?_ He spluttered.

_You got to remember I'm a second gen Fang, I aged like a half vamp. At seven I was fully-grown, but I was pretended to be seventeen at the time. I was out with Grace, we were going to the cinema, but on the way back these vamps tracked us._ I explained.

_Oh my god! Two of them and you managed to beat them!_ Miles exclaimed, sounding impressed.

_With the help of my twin._ I said because if Liza hadn't distracted the male I wouldn't be here now and Grace would have been introduced to the supernatural world as an entrée.

_Still you did good, and it was the first time you phased? You didn't even have any moment of wobble?_ Miles observed.

_Moment of wobble?_ I asked.

_When I first phased it was such a shock I froze solid before bolting into the forest. I think I would have run to Canada if Gramps hadn't found me._

_I knew I would phase and anyway, I was full of adrenaline, having to act. I couldn't have a wobble or I would have been vamp chow. I did get mopey for a little while after, but that's cause I inadvertently hurt Grace and she wasn't speaking to me._ I explained.

_What did you do to her?_ Miles asked, imagining that I wounded her physically.

_I hurt her emotionally. I hadn't been as careful as I thought staying friends with her but still keeping her at a distance. She couldn't quite get around the fact that I might look grown up but I was still only seven_. I replied.

_But isn't she a half vamp?_

_It's complicated._ I said because he didn't know the full details and I didn't know if this was because Harry or even Gabe, Harry's son and Miles' father, wanted him to stay in the dark about the whole made half vamp thing. I'd have to check with Harry before I put my paw in it.

_Quiet down, we're nearly at the house. We have to be on alert now_. I said, thankful for the distraction.

_What do I do boss?_ He asked, getting closer to me and I nearly kicked him as I ran.

_Stay on my left flank, but not so close, we might hurt each other if we need to fight._ I stated.

_Oh…ok._ He said and moved out a bit. Is this far enough?

_Yeah._ I replied. _We'll go clockwise around the house._

Miles didn't reply, he just moved with me as I rounded the house, sniffing all about until I picked up a very faint trace of vampire. It was Carlisle's scent, but over a year old and not as potent as it could be.

_Here._ I told Miles and he sniffed where I indicated.

_Wow, that's rank_. He said.

_That's my great-grandpa._ I said flatly.

_Oh, sorry_. Miles replied.

_Just messing with you kid._ I laughed, butting him with my head. _Vamps do smell rank to a wolf nose, and just think that scent's a year old._

_God! How bad would it be when it's fresh?_

_You don't wanna know._ I replied, although I wasn't one hundred percent on how bad it was to the wolves who didn't have a little vamp in them themselves. _So you got a good idea of what a vamp smells like now?_

_Yeah._ Miles replied.

_Then let's head back. Nobody's been around here for ages_. I said cause that was clearly the case.

We ran back to the border and didn't run into any trouble, not even an indication that there might be something close by. But Miles still gave a sigh of relief when we crossed back into the warm welcoming scent of home.

_How was the trip into vampire land?_ Harry asked as he came to meet us as we crossed.

_Wicked._ Miles announced. _There was a vamp scent, but Tony said it was old._

_It was_. I confirmed._ Carlisle's scent from about a year ago._

_Sometimes he stops by to see how we're getting on_. Hunter stated._ But he always calls me from the house to meet him in the woods. He never crosses the border, which is good. We know Carlisle wouldn't do anything to break tradition._

_Great tradition that means my father can't even visit me at home._ I grumbled.

_Ess and Tobias always stay up at Rose Cottage anyway, you know that._ Hunter replied._ It's not like it's far to run._

_And there's more room for them_. I conceded.

_Yeah_. Hunter agreed. _So you pups want to head back around to the south? We got another few hours before dawn._

We couldn't really say no even if we wanted to, so we ran back to the border, ready to run for the rest of the night. It did become a bit of a drag running the same stretch of forest back and fore, even if I did enjoy the chance to stretch out my wolf legs. With nothing much to occupy me and my instincts on full taking care of the guarding business I found that my mind started wandering into Darktide and that led to a lot of ribbing but also curiosity. It wasn't surprising that Harry and Miles hadn't sat down to read the books, they weren't the reading kind. Hunter only read them after Olwen persuaded him to help with her then new reading skills. The only one who had read them because he was a reader was Rupert and it was kinda funny to see that in his mind play he was Brody and Lady Anna, although always described as having blonde hair and blue eyes in the book, looked more like Renee Uley-Dwyer.

Miles laughed when he figured this out from the info in my mind compared to that in his uncle's mind.

_Rupert and Renee sitting in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g._ He sang.

_What? Are you nine?_ Rupert grumbled as the rest of us laughed. _And that was years ago, can't help it if the image stuck._

And it was true, he'd got over his crush, possibly because even though he was actually two years older than her, he was stuck as a twenty something working in his dad's fishing business while Renee was now a thirty-one-year-old nurse and mother of three with another on the way. They had dated for about six months in their early twenties, but it hadn't come to anything. The imprinting thing, or lack thereof had weighed too heavy between them to get anywhere near to serious, but it was around that rime Rupert started reading Darktide and so Renee became his template for Lady Anna, even if the text said otherwise.

I felt kinda bad that me thinking about Darktide dredged up all that history from Rupert's mind, especially in front of his father and nephew.

_Don't worry about it Tone._ Rupert thought. _It's one of the dangers of the pack mind, you get used to it. And it works all ways, so ickle Milesy might be poking fun at his old uncle right now, but soon he'll be getting crushes on girls…_ He trailed off with an evil laugh.

_Oh god!_ Miles thought and if we'd been human he'd be blushing right now as an image of a girl in his class suddenly popped into his mind.

_Shall I sing it now?_ Rupert asked. _Miles and Kitara…_

_No, cause that tune is annoying and I'm already gonna have it in my head most of the day now quit it or I'll have to take this to a higher authority._ Harry warned.

_Grandma?_ Miles asked in a small voice.

_Yep._ Harry replied, unamused, and quite convincing, but the humour clouding the edges of Rupert's thoughts kinda spoiled it.

Miles stopped his teasing and so did Rupert, instead the guys started discussing the latest football game that had been on the box. I tried to keep up, I'd read some catches from the paper out of habit because the guys I used to work with thought you weren't a real man if you didn't watch sport, but it was hard to fake on the pack mind. They spotted that I was bluffing my knowledge, but after a bit of ribbing because I was faking they pushed it aside. People liked different things, Rupert wasn't so keen on football, but it was a communal thing, something he did with Harry, his brothers and nephews. If there was a big game they'd all gather round the screen with beer for the grown ups, sodas for the kids and watch and argue over which team would win, and just generally have a good time. That made watching it better cause you weren't just sitting there watching a few guys pass a pigskin around, you were part of something.

_Didn't you used to play football?_ Miles asked me.

_Play football? He used to win football._ Hunter said proudly.

_Wow. State champions three years running?_ Miles said, impressed._ How come you never went professional? You could have got a scholarship out of it at least._

_Firstly I was only eight when I left high school, I wasn't so keen on doing the whole college thing right then, at least not for real. I did a few courses down in Olympia but I didn't see it as really going away to school. Not like when Liza went away to Riverside. Secondly it would have been like cheating having me on a team. School teams are different, I'm not making money personally, but the school gets funded so there's that. Most important though, I absolutely hate football. I only went on the team because Coach caught me throwing a football in the hall at a stupid jock that threw it at me. I tried out instead of getting detention, but refused to join the team._

_But you did join._ Miles said.

_Yeah…_ I replied darkly and rather than explain I just let the memory of why I joined surface.

_They're mean._ Miles observed. _And I wouldn't have joined up at all._

_If they were just waging war against me I could have handled it, but not when they brought my friends into it._ I said._ Especially Grace._

_He was a nasty piece of work all round as I recall_. Rupert said. _I got him back for you._

_How?_ I asked.

_Few years ago, well more than a few years ago, it was when we were invading Port Angeles for Gabe's bachelor party, we stumbled into that club, you know the cage fighting one. Guess they found an outlet for his aggression, anyway, I'm the scrawniest of my bros, or at least look the less threatening. So we're all big compared to most guys, but the guys in there were muscle bound idiots so we didn't actually stand out that much. Anyway he'd built his muscle up more in juvie I guess, well he looked bigger than me._

_Yeah, but they were stupid muscles, all show and no fight._ I said.

_Well whatever, he looked stronger than me so I volunteered to fight him_. Rupert said, brushing it aside. _I let him get a few punches in before I made him eat sawdust. I won a hundred dollars. Of course that was before he got done for all them armed robberies and went down for a long, long time._

_How come I don't know about this?_ Harry asked.

_You were there Dad. You might have been blind drunk but you were the one who recognised Don Quinn and was gonna fight him yourself, but they wouldn't let you cause you were too drunk to sign the waver. So I went instead since it would be more humiliating for him anyway. They wanted me to be the in-house champion, take on the old mantle of 'Lone Wolf' but I turned it down, name got too much baggage for our people._

_Why?_ Miles asked.

_Because lone wolves go mad._ I said quickly cause I wasn't sure Miles knew about Timmy.

_You didn't._ Miles observed.

_Yeah, but I wasn't alone. I had Mom._ I stated.

_Ah Essie._ Harry chuckled. _My first and best alpha._

_Thanks Harry._ Hunter said dryly.

_Sorry kid, but we were running the Res when you were still growing in your mommy's belly, kinda hard to really see you as my senior_. Harry replied. _Just saying._

_So it's gonna be even worse when I'm alpha._ I thought.

_It'll be like having one of my boys telling me what to do._ Harry conceded.

_Do I ever tell you to do anything?_ Hunter asked.

_Do you ever have to?_ Harry returned and they laughed.

_Why do only Fangs get to be alpha?_ Miles wondered.

_It's easier._ Harry said. T_heir minds are too loud to get lost in the crowd._

_It's just a natural thing anyway._ Rupert said. _I mean you're running beta to Tony's alpha without even thinking about it. Without him asking to take point, you just naturally fell in behind him. It's pack instinct, you know who your superiors are without even thinking about it._

Miles thought long about this and we drifted on to a conversation about how things had changed since Harry was a pup running in Mom's rag-tag pack. I got a few good old stories I'd never heard about and couldn't wait to run them past Mom and Dad when we went to visit them in a few weeks.

_I get it now._ Miles said suddenly. _There is like a leader thing going on here, but I think I'm getting confused now because there's Hunter and Tony._

_Always do what Hunter says unless he's not here._ I stated. _He's alpha, I'm a lowly grunt just like you._

_So you'd have to do what Gramps tells you?_ Miles asked suspiciously.

_Yeah._ I agreed.

_And Uncle Rupert?_

_While Hunter's still alpha, yeah._ I confirmed.

_Can they do that?_ He asked, and he was referring to them actually alpharing me.

_They couldn't alpha me, but I'd obey cause I don't want to assume. I got to be part of the pack to get to know it inside out before I can hope to lead it._ I explained.

_That's confusing._ Miles said.

_Then don't think about it._ Harry advised._ How about I tell you about the time Jake went cage fighting instead?_

_Elder Jake?_ Miles asked in shock.

_The one and the same._ Harry stated before launching into the story about how Timmy got back onto the Res.

* * *

**Grace**

I'd promised Tony I'd go to bed as soon as he left around nine, but here it was, midnight and I was still in the kitchen thinking up excuses for not going to bed. Now I was sat staring at the computer screen trying to squeeze another edit out of this last chapter for my new book before I sent it to Garry, but there really wasn't anything left to do. I sighed, saved the file and sent it after taking a while to write out a message that ended up being brief anyway. Garry would get suspicious if it was too wordy, I didn't do meandering in my messages. Once it was sent I looked about for something to do, but everything was spotless, Olwen had already been through the place. Five times. Now she was sat opposite me on the small table embroidering.

I looked up to speak, but I didn't want to bother her so I turned back to my laptop and thought about starting the next chapter, but there were no next chapters, that was the final book in the three book murder mystery series I'd wrote as a departure from Darktide and I had no idea where I wanted to go next. It depended on how well the new books did. I checked my Twitter feed, it was full of the usual praises along with the insults for writing vampire fiction. There was nothing that interested me so I clicked over to YouTube and watched the trending videos.

"It is hard when they go out yes?" Olwen asked.

"Yes." I agreed, hitting pause on yet another dire cat video.

"I can never sleep when Hunter is running." She observed.

"What do you do instead?" I asked.

"Before I had Kyelax I used to go and run the border with him. It was the best way to know he was safe." She stated.

"The other wolves didn't object to it?" I asked curious, because I knew they'd object to me.

"I ran outside the border so what could they say? And I was doing what they were doing anyway." She said with a shrug.

"Yeah." I agreed. "And what do you do now?"

"Attempt to embroider when really I worry about my brave husband Hunter out there in the darkness. I pray to the gods to look over him, that the wolf spirit who gave him his power protect him and his brothers. I offer them tokens that they comply." She said without any irony, she believed in these gods now as much as she did when she was living in the Iron Age. Twenty first century life hadn't ground down her belief with its cynicism so I decided to approach the conversation as if I believed in her gods too.

"Tokens? Like what?" I inquired.

"Good food. They like ale too. Meat is the best, especially if you can provide it yourself." She explained.

"Like a deer carcass?" I asked, suddenly getting an idea.

"You cannot drink of the blood, you must offer it to the earth and the sky." She corrected.

"Like a sacrifice." I said, pushing the lid of my laptop down and pushing it to the side, this was getting interesting and I didn't want any distractions.

"Yes. Blood appeases the gods." She stated.

"If that's the case how come you never thought the vampires were gods?"

"Gods do not walk amongst us, they're around us. They don't take solid form because they can die that way. They stay in their element but also help us if they feel like it. That's why you give them tokens, and food and drink."

"I can't imagine how it must have been growing up in your world." I observe.

"You are a story maker, I'm certain you can." Olwen said with a smile. "I'm sure you will."

"Will?" I asked with a frown.

"You need a new story and you look for…the word…inspiration. You want to know what to do next now you have finished the book where someone is slain and the elders have to work out the killer."

"I am looking for my next thread, but I really don't know if I'd do your story justice." I said sadly.

"If you don't, who will know?" Olwen said with a shrug, and I took it as the permission I needed.

"I could do your story. Write it down so the world will know. I'll just change the names, but I could write about the woman warrior who saved her people from the unrelenting march of the south men." I said, caught up for a moment in my own imagination.

"Perhaps." Olwen said.

"I'd check everything with you." I assured her.

"I could be a story maker too?" She asked with excitement.

"Yeah." I said. "Or you could be your own story writer."

"I'm not good at the writing. When I pick up a pen I feel I should stab something with it." She said matter-of-fact.

"Well they say the pen is mightier than the sword." I said with a grin but Olwen just frowned at me. "Forget the pen, have you tried typing?"

Olwen shook her head.

"Do you wanna try now? You know how to read, so writing is just the same except you create the words instead of just read them." I stated.

"How is it done?" She asked, putting her embroidery to one side.

"Look." I said as I went around to her side of the table and woke my laptop up. "You know the alphabet right?"

"The thing that goes ABC like the song the children sing?" She asked.

"That's right."

"How does it go?" She prompted.

"You want me to sing it?" I asked in shock.

"Yes." Olwen agreed.

"Ok. Well I guess I can point them out on the keyboard as I do." I reasoned before I sang the alphabet song and pointed each letter out.

"Why are they not in their places?" She asked.

"They are." I assured her. "They're just placed differently depending on how often the letters get used. Now why don't you try typing your name?"

Olwen nodded and she used the search and destroy method, bringing her finger down on each discovered letter so hard that I winced a little, hoping she wouldn't break the keys. Once she'd gone over all the letters she glanced up at the screen and laughed.

"I typed." She said.

"Yeah." I agreed. "But you don't have to do it so hard you know."

"Can I have one of these boxes of writing?" She asked in amazement.

"It's called a laptop." I stated, so she'd know what to ask for. "I'm gonna get a new one soon anyway, you can have this one then."

"A gift?" She asked, looking at me with caution.

"A gift." I agreed. "You are my aunt by marriage."

Olwen considered this for a second, then nodded.

"Thank you niece for this gift. I am honoured you think of me." She said and hugged me.

I smiled as I hugged her back, it was strangely comforting.

"So, how about a few more lessons." I said.

"Ok." Olwen replied and she readied her hand over the keyboard again. "K-Y-E-L-A-X." She said as she typed out her daughter's name.

"That's good, but there is an art to typing." I said. "You can use more than one finger at a time."

I pulled the laptop back to me and positioned my fingers on the relevant keys.

"If you start from here you can reach all the keys quite easily without having to move your hands too much. In time, when you know where the letters are you can type without even looking at the keyboard." I explained, then started typing.

_**My name is Grace Black, I am an author of some renown. I live on the Quileute Reservation of La Push with my husband Tony and our beautiful little daughter Magda.**_

"See." I said.

"You did that as quick as I typed Kyelax." Olwen observed.

"Yeah."

"How did you get so fast?" She demanded.

"It's just a case of practice." I said with a shrug. "There is an exercise you can do, but I can't remember what it is. Maybe we could look it up online?"

"That is going on the inter-web to find out the knowledge of mankind like seers pulling the knowledge of the gods from the ethers." She observed.

"Well I wouldn't call it one hundred percent knowledge, there's a lot of crap on there. You got to watch cause it's not all true, even when it claims to be." I warned her.

"Ah yes, embellishments." Olwen said. "The art of the story teller is to add a few exciting things."

"Well it's ok when your story telling, but not when you're talking facts." I said as I loaded my browser. "Do you want to type in the search?"

"What do I search?" She asked as she positioned her hands ready.

"Typing exercises." I replied, sounding out the words to help her with the spelling.

Olwen nodded and typed it in, trying it like I showed her, but still having to seek out every letter. She got a handle on where the 'e' was by the end of it at least. Then she moved her thumb on the touch pad.

"I must move the arrow to search?" She asked.

"Yeah." I confirmed and she did that, clicking on the button until a load of different sites came up.

"Which one?" She asked.

I scanned all the entries.

"Let's try this one first." I said, and clicked on the first site that looked promising.

It seemed ok and my scanners hadn't picked up anything nasty so I downloaded the programme. I showed Olwen how to open it and she read through it for a while.

"You want some coffee?" I asked while she was reading.

"Yes please." She replied and I went to make us both a coffee while she read.

I placed her coffee beside her and I sat down opposite her again, waiting for her to finish, she must have been reading through the whole thing instead of just scanning it. When I finished my coffee I picked up her embroidering and looked at it.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"The sun. It's for Kyelax summer garments so that she may be blessed." Olwen replied as she continued to look at the screen.

"It's not a sun like we would draw it today though." I said, tracing the unfinished pattern.

"No. It's like that." She said and showed me another section where there was a pattern picked out in gold.

"May I?" I asked.

"You embroider?" She asked almost in disbelief.

"I learned in medieval club." I explained.

Olwen considered a moment.

"It would not hurt to appeal to your gods too." She stated.

I smiled and nodded, but didn't mention I didn't really have any gods as I began to repeat her pattern while she tried a few typing exercises on my laptop. I couldn't help but laugh about the fact that we'd swapped over pastimes. As I was stitching I did wonder about what gods she thought I had, as a descendent of Europeans I would think that most of my ancestors were Christian, but before that they would have been pagan. Definitely pagan, Mom was convinced we could trace our routes all the way back to Viking lords. I'd never really believed her about the one. But maybe there was something in it so I tried to remember what she told me, about the goddesses like Elir, Ēostre, Fraya, Freyr and Hlín, there were others, but the only other one I could remember was Hel and I don't think Olwen would appreciate me blessing her daughter by the goddess of the underworld. Of course they did say the devil looks after their own so maybe a little help from Hel wouldn't be so bad.

Olwen said something in Trailax, I knew enough now to get by, but I wasn't fluent enough to understand the string of words she exclaimed, but it was so clear she was swearing. It sounded like a good language to swear in and I decided I'd get her to teach me a few words when she wasn't so annoyed. Purely for research, it's always good to employ other languages in fantasy.

"What's wrong?" I asked instead.

"I can not get this (word I didn't understand but sounded earthy and rude) magic to obey." She raged in Trailax.

"Let me have a look." I said as I rounded the table to see what she'd done. "There's no problem."

"What are all these red lines and green lines for, it won't tell me the (that word again, I really had to try and remember it) they're for." She stormed.

"That's just the spelling and grammar check. Don't worry about it so much, it's just cause you're typing out the alphabet and words that aren't real." I assured her. "The computer gets confused, but just ignore it for now."

"Will this machine not destruct if I make the mistakes?" She asked.

"No. It's just a guide for when you're editing." I explained. "I know, I'll turn the spell check off."

I turned it off and the red and green squiggles disappeared from the screen.

"See." I said.

"That is good. I thought I broke it." She murmured.

"No you didn't." I stated.

"How can I repay you?" She asked.

"What's that word you said and what does it mean?" I replied.

"What word?"

"The one you said in Trailax." I said and attempted it but I was certain it was completely wrong.

"Zencheleth?" Olwen ventured.

"That's it, Zencheleth." I repeated.

"It means stupid, idiotic, dirty thing. Mama would blush to hear me say it, and that is without blood as she is." Olwen whispered conspiratorially.

"I thought it sounded like swearing." I said, before I repeated it. "Zencheleth."

"You need to put more disgust behind it. Like you really find the thing so horrifying. You inflect wrong? It is what they tell me always. Wrong emphasis on wrong syllable."

"Then how should I say it?" I asked intrigued.

Olwen said it slowly sounding out every syllable and I copied her before trying it at a faster pace.

"Good. Well done." Olwen said with a smile before leaning closer to me. "Just don't say it in front of Mama or she say I tell you bad influence."

"Then I won't use it in front of her." I promised.

"Good." Olwen replied.

"Don't you go to bed at all?" I asked when I glanced at the clock to see that it was two in the morning. "Not even to pretend you've been?"

"Hunter knows my mind, he would know I lie." Olwen said with a shrug.

"Tony won't be happy with me staying up all night. I think I might have to at least get into bed to say I tried." I said worried, although I didn't want to move from the kitchen.

"Why sleep if he does not?" Olwen asked.

"He worries I'll wear myself out. He kinda forgets I'm not the human with the weak heart anymore. I'm a half vamp just like him, with the capability of staying up past my bedtime." I said, realising I was raging a bit.

"Perhaps he wants you to save all his energy for him." Olwen said with a wink.

"We got no problems in that department." I said primly cause Olwen had an earthy no nonsense approach to everything and if you didn't watch how the conversation was going she ended up asking things about your sex life that really didn't concern her. "It just feels weird going to bed without him now."

"You are used to him having early mornings and going." Olwen stated.

"Well yeah, but we went to sleep together and anyway, he wasn't out there on the border possibly risking his life. He was just going out to work."

"It is hard being the wife of a warrior." Olwen said sadly. "Especially when I can fight by his side better than the pups who are wet behind the ears."

"Do you miss the fighting?" I asked.

"I like the peace and to live here with my Hunter and our Kyelax. I don't miss the loneliness. I was always lonely, no wonder little spirit kept control. I am not lonely now, but I would feel sad if I missed out on a chance to fight. The bad vampires must be stopped of course." She said.

"Yes." I agreed.

"They will be gone from our lands one day and then we will live happy and never have our men run other than for the fun and we can run with them. And play and be happy and the vampires are no longer a threat to our daughters and their daughters." She said wistfully.

"That would be nice." I mused, then I heard footsteps outside and I was on my feet alert before I realised I'd moved, but then I relaxed back into my chair when I knew it was Tony and probably Hunter outside. "They're back already?" I asked in shock.

"It is dawn, they finish running." Olwen said. "Now I go to bed."

"Yeah." I said with a smile, then frowned. "But it's five, we're not gonna sleep long."

"Who said anything about sleep." Olwen replied with a laugh as she rose to her feet and went to the door to take Hunter in her arms as soon as he stepped through. "Good morning my Hunter." She greeted in Trailax.

Hunter just laughed as he stepped into the house, wrapping his arms around her before they kissed.

"You used to do that when Granny Ness was here?" Tony asked as he stepped around them.

"Have you changed your name to Jiminy?" Hunter replied, as he lifted his head to speak. "Well we're gonna hit the hay now, get in a couple of hours before work." He added with a mock yawn and Olwen chuckled before twirling out of his arms and leading him down the hall by his hand.

I smiled as I finished shutting down the laptop.

Tony was hovering, he wasn't sure if I was up early or hadn't been to bed. He wasn't sure if I wanted to go to bed, for sleep or anything else, but being too polite to ask.

"You tired?" I asked instead.

"It was a long night." He replied with a shrug, which did wonderful things to his whole chest area and I knew I didn't want to sleep.

"I guess you'll want to sleep for a few hours then." I teased.

"You've been up all night too." He said, more a statement than a question but he wasn't one hundred percent sure.

"I have." I confirmed.

"Why couldn't you sleep?" He asked with sudden concern and he crouched down by the side of my chair and looked up into my eyes.

"I didn't get my daily dose of you." I said and I kissed him lightly on the lips before I stood up and grabbed his hand, pulling him toward our room before we got down right there in the kitchen.

Tony was always careful not to push me when it came to sex, sometimes it got annoying, but maybe it was because he always wanted me and if we went by his libido we'd never leave the bedroom. So it only took a little prompting once the door was locked and we were kissing and pulling at each other's clothes. Tony seemed friskier this morning, more than usual, which was saying something because once I initiated things I was never left in doubt how much he wanted me. But this morning the energy in him seemed unfathomable and I thought he might just eat me up when moved his mouth over my skin, leaving trails of thrilling electricity behind that pushed me to the threshold of pleasure quicker than ever before. I actually had to bite my lip or I would have cried out and well, there were kids in the house.

Tony fell beside me afterwards and I was shocked a moment, staring up at the ceiling. That was different, there'd definitely been more of a hunger behind his every kiss and caress.

"Sorry, I don't know what came over me." Tony murmured.

"Sorry?" I demanded as I moved to lean over him and look down into his pretty hazel eyes. "Whatever came over you I hope it stays, cause that was something else Tony Black."

"It, it was?" He stammered.

_Tony we've done a whole load of stuff, but that's the first time I came so hard without it being the finale of a long session of sensual touching._ I said as I straddled him and lay against him. _You were insatiable._ I added and kissed his lips once.

_I didn't upset you? I wasn't too intense?_ He worried.

_Do I look upset to you? _I asked.

Tony shook his head as he put his hands on my butt.

_I just felt that I had to do something right now, like I would burst if we didn't_. He explained as he moved his right hand up to trace lines down my spine.

_Perhaps it's because you've really woken up the wolf in you._ I theorised. _Woken up all your instincts and desires. You've always said that being here on the Res let's you be yourself. Now you can be the passionate man I've always known you to be._

_You don't think I was passionate before?_ He asked, halfway between teasing and worried he'd let me down.

_Of course you were, but here you're more so. I can't explain it, but really it's that old thing you always used to talk about being your own self here. More than anywhere else._

_But I also told you that I got that with you now, wherever you are I can be myself._ He countered.

_Then obviously it's multiplied._ I stated.

Tony nodded, frowning slightly. I stroked his cheek hoping to sooth away his worry cause really there was nothing he should worry about.

"Why don't you stop worrying and we get some sleep before Magda wakes up." I suggested.

"Ok." Tony said.

I kissed him again before I stood up, threw our clothes into the hamper and pulled on some pyjamas so I'd be decent if Magda burst in. Tony pulled on a pair of shorts and I unlocked the door before we got in under the covers where Tony pulled me in close and hugged me. He brushed his fingers through my long hair as we snoozed, but it was pointless going all the way to sleep because Magda would be up soon.

_Why didn't you sleep?_ Tony asked.

_I didn't like the thought of you out there fighting for your life and me just sleeping through it._ I replied.

_We're perfectly safe, there's always a lot of us, we got each other's backs._ He assured me.

_I know, but it'll take a while for me to get used to it._ I stated.

_Was it a long night?_ He asked.

_Weirdly no. I spent the night talking to Olwen while she learned to type and I did some embroidery._ I replied. _How did your night go?_

_It was terrible._ He said, shaking his head.

_Don't lie._ I said, moving my hand up under his arm and wriggling my fingers threateningly, and even though I hardly touched him he still giggled he was that ticklish.

_Ok. _He said. _It was great, I absolutely loved running as part of a pack, but it did get boring after a while, just running back and fore. I run out to the Cullen House though with Miles._

_Miles is the son of Gabe Clearwater?_ I ventured.

_Yeah._ Tony confirmed.

_He's a wolf now?_ I asked in shock.

Tony nodded.

_But he's still a kid_. I observed.

_He's fourteen so he's eligible._ Tony replied as if it was normal.

_So how did he change so young?_ I asked.

_It's just how it is sometimes._ He replied. I_n a way he's lucky._

_But what if he imprints? Won't he be in the same boat as we were?_ I asked.

_Well I wasn't thinking of that side of things. I was thinking more about the fact that he gets used to it now, it's not something he'll encounter later on when he's not so open minded. In Grandpa Jake's pack Seth was always said to have taken to being a wolf better than the others._

_But weren't there wolves who were younger than him?_ I asked, trying to remember the stories I'd been told.

_Well yeah, but not for a long while, so he was the youngest out of the original pack of the twenty first century. He didn't have so many hang-ups over the change, and well Miles is Seth's great-grandson. From what I read from the Elders he's actually a lot like Seth when he was that age._

_But he's so young._ I repeated. _You make sure you look after him._

_Of course I will._ Tony said with a little edge, like I'd offended him for suggesting he wouldn't. _We're a pack, we look after each other, but even without that he's got his grandfather and a load of uncles still running. Not to mention Ariana, do you think she'd let anything happen to her oldest nephew?_

_No she wouldn't._ I conceded.

_But I'll still have his back, like you said, he's just a kid._

_So what are we doing today?_ I asked to get away from the subject.

_I got to go work ten to four, but how about we take Mags for a walk down to First Beach?_ He suggested.

_I think I might take her down during the day, maybe with Olwen and Kyelax, I know Magda's been looking forward to playing with Kyelax and she didn't get chance yesterday_. I replied.

_Well I guess we can decide tonight._

_Yeah._ I agreed._ One other thing, when do we go hunting?_

_Are you hungry?_ Tony asked in concern.

_No. I just want to know so I can tell Magda._ I explained.

_I'll find out from Hunter later, let you know tonight._ He promised.

_Ok._ I replied and kissed him. _I think I'm gonna get up now, shower and dress before Magda's up. Do you want me to let you sleep in?_

_Nah. I'll shower after you. Unless you want to conserve water._ He growled playfully.

_Water conservation is important._ I observed. _But since we're sharing one bathroom between us all it might not be right._

_Probably._ Tony said, and he curled up in the centre of the bed. _Call me when you're out._

"Lazy ass." I joked and threw a ball of rolled up socks at him that he caught out of the air and pulled it under the covers with him.

"That's why you love me." He said with a smile.

I laughed as I left the bedroom and entered the bathroom with my towel and my clothes for the day. This was one of the first rooms I ever saw inside this house when Tony brought me here cold and shivering after I'd been plucked from the sea. Despite the utilitarian design I'd loved it, especially the warm water that soothed my numb skin. As I stood naked in a strangers' bathroom I had a weird sense that I'd live there someday. I guess it wasn't too much of a stretch of the imagination since I knew then that I was Tony's imprint and there was every chance that he might live here one day so I would. It was a comforting thought really, I did have memories here and it wasn't so bad. I could really settle down here and make the most of it without even missing the Stables. I hadn't thought about it the last two days. I could be happy here, now all I had to do, once Magda started school, was to get myself a job. I'd have to ask around the Res, or outsource to Forks or Port Angeles at a stretch, but it was about time I got myself a real job.

I laughed at my own thoughts as I rinsed off the shampoo ready to apply the conditioner.

* * *

**Tony**

I lay on my back with my hands behind my head as soon as Grace left the room. I had to figure out what had happened. I just don't know what came over me, I hadn't even felt like I was holding anything back, if we'd stayed out in the kitchen I was certain nothing would have happened, at least I wouldn't have felt the need for anything to happen so immediately. It was only coming into the room and Grace getting playful and suddenly I was burning for her and there was nothing on earth that could have held me back from her at that point. Nothing. It was weird, the primal wolf in me and I didn't know what to do now, cause the sex had been good, but I didn't like losing control like that cause even if someone had walked in I wouldn't have stopped. I would have carried on until my Grace was pleasured. I just didn't want to be out of control if I could help it. I had to find out about it, if it was a normal feeling for wolves, but I didn't want to ask around everyone, that would be embarrassing.

I'd think about it in work if I had to do anything that wasn't cerebrally challenging. I heard the shower turn off and I got up and grabbed my clean clothes to go and get ready for the day. I waited until Grace came into the bedroom before I went to use the bathroom.

"Sorry kid, I start work before you." Hunter said as he slammed the bathroom door in my face.

I frowned feeling annoyed, I'd never had to share a bathroom in my life, well apart from when me and Liza came here to stay as kids, but we rarely got in Hunter's way then, now was just annoying. I went back into the bedroom where Grace was blow-drying her hair and I dropped back onto the bed.

"I thought you were going to have a shower." Grace said.

"So did I." I replied moodily. "But Hunter got there first. We should have gone for water conservation."

"Maybe we will tomorrow." Grace said with a laugh.

"Hmmm…" I said, wondering how long Hunter was gonna be.

Grace shook her head at my moodiness before she got on with drying her hair. As soon as I heard the water switch off I was up and outside the bathroom door ready for when Hunter stepped out. I wasted no time in jumping into the bathroom when he emerged.

I had to shower quickly because the water ran cold. That was gonna take some getting used to. I dressed in jeans and a plaid shirt, it's what Old Quil's son Medium Quil, who now ran the family business, had told me to wear.

Magda was up and sitting at the breakfast table with her older cousin Kyelax sat beside her looking like a baby in comparison. But Kyelax was aging like a human whereas Magda was a half vamp through and through. It wasn't a big surprise though, even if Keelie turned into a wolf, or even a vamp-wolf when she was older, Hunter was first gen and his wife for all intents and purposes was human. Keelie was probably like Mom and Hunter and Tina.

I went to help Grace with the cooking but she shoed me away so I sat down next to the girls.

"Tony." Keelie said with a smile.

"Morning Keelie." I replied. "And good morning Mags, sleep well?"

"I was worried." She replied. "You were out there with the bad vampires. I was worried you would die and I could feel Mommy's worry and Aunt Olwen's worry."

"I was just being silly." Grace said as she stroked Magda's cheek. "And you have to sleep so you can be fit and healthy for playing on the beach and going to school."

"School? I can go to school?" She asked excitedly.

"Principal Pikehunter said you were allowed." I replied. "She's gonna let us know when you can start tonight."

"Yay." Magda cheered. "Hear that Keelie? I'm going to school."

"Yay." Keelie repeated.

"And we're going to play on the beach today."

"Mags and Keelie?" Keelie asked.

"Yeah. The both of us." Magda confirmed.

Keelie cheered again.

We ate breakfast and helped Grace in the kitchen while Olwen cleaned up in the family room and Hunter went to work. He was looking after Jake's garage again, I could have gone there, but I was better at carpentry than cars. Joe Call was gonna oversee it instead, and since he'd worked there all his adult life it was probably better not to usurp him, there was already bad blood between us and I didn't want to make matters worse now I was actually living on the Res.

I left the house at half nine and strolled over to the big corrugated steel building that they'd tried to make blend in to the surroundings by painting it green. It really wasn't colloquial, but it was set far back enough in the Res and surrounded by enough trees that no one would notice so much. It was a big factory however and it meant that other than a small amount of duty for selling furniture off Res all the revenue went back into the community and there was quite a lot of money being raked in by Ateara Handmade Furniture. With the right advertising and a hint at exclusivity people paid good money for a piece of genuine Quileute craft and there were orders from as far away as Florida.

I liked the factory, it was full of activity and the smell of sawdust, wood glue and varnish. Old Quil was here to greet me, leaning on his carved staff as his sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren gathered around with interest to view the first employee not to be born of the Ateara line. Not to mention some of the youngsters had never seen me before, but had heard of me and were getting a good look of the new Fang on the block.

"Brought your tools?" Old Quil asked.

"Yeah." I said, holding up the wooden toolbox I'd made myself.

"Good." Quil said. "As much as we can provide you with tools, it's always better to have your own. It's a spirit thing right?"

"Yeah." I agreed because I always felt happier using the tools I had since I was a kid, even though Liza had bought me new over various Christmases, they just didn't feel the same, even ones that were exactly the same make and model.

"I'll show you to your station." He said and turned around to find his descendents closer than he was expecting. "Ten o'clock kiddies, time to get started."

They scattered to their stations, only Medium Quil and Bernie staying behind since they were manager and supervisor now, even if Old Quil had returned for a day of lording.

"We know you got the skills." Old Quil said as I followed him. "I saw that desk you made for Grace, beautiful piece, but we also got patterns to follow so you can start on something simple. Here at Ateara Handmade Furniture we pride ourselves on quality of product over speed of production. That's not to say we don't lack efficiency, but we don't expect you to make one piece in a day when you're making it from scratch. A piece takes time and love anyway, you know that. To let the glue dry and the varnish take. I've gone off course. What we want you to do as your first assignment is make our basic model chair. The pattern's here and so are all the materials you will need. We usually give the newbie a week to complete it, so start on with it and we'll see how you're getting on by the end of next week."

We came to a corner at the back of the building where there was a workbench with a vice, a sawhorse and planks of wood piled up around a square of tarpaulin on the floor.

"Any questions?" He prompted.

"What happens if I finish sooner?" I asked.

"Just tell my boys here and I'll come and inspect it." Old Quil said as he slapped his 'boys', who were actually close to retirement age, on their backs.

I nodded.

"Anything else?" Old Quil asked.

I shook my head.

"Well here's your station, if you need anything the boys will be around the floor or up in the office." He said and pointed to the little box that over hung the main floor with a set of metal steps leading up to it. "We'll let you get on with it."

"Thank you." I said.

Old Quil nodded and turned to walk away with his boys.

_Tony?_ I heard his whisper in my head.

_Yes Old Quil?_ I asked.

_If you got any emergencies, you know vamp or wolf, the exit is just behind you._ Old Quil explained, but his mind voice sounded young and it felt odd to think of him as Old Quil. _I didn't want to say in front of my boys, they never phased so they don't understand how sometimes it can just come on you. Anyway, the exit is behind you, so if you need to leave quick…_

_Thank you._ I replied.

I took a moment to catch my breath then placed my toolbox on the bench. There was a stack of papers stapled together and I read through them, memorising all the instructions on how to make the chair.

I started working on the wood and was proud of my progress when we tooled down for lunch. We ate sandwiches in the little wooden building next to the factory. I wasn't sure where to sit but some of the Ateara crowd who were my age motioned me over to a spare chair at their table.

I sat down and opened my lunch box. I noticed at least two of them shrank back until I pulled out a ham sandwich.

"You think he'd be chowing on a puppy in front of everyone?" Young Quil asked with a chuckle. "Muggles." He said and rolled his eyes at me, setting us wolves apart from his cousins who couldn't phase.

"Also, I don't feed on my canine brethren." I said before taking a bite of my sandwich.

One of the women was staring at me and I raised an eyebrow in question.

"Where's your fangs?" She asked.

"I haven't got fangs." I replied.

"Vamps don't have them." Young Quil said irritably.

"Well I don't know. I'm just a muggle." She replied sarcastically.

"Does Hunter or Tina have fangs?" One of the other guys, I think his name was Ross asked.

"I've never been this close to them when they're eating." The woman said with a shrug before taking a fork full of the pasta salad she was eating.

"Anyway." Young Quil said, obviously leading into something. "We just wanted to give you some advice, worker to worker like."

"Right." I said, recognising his tones and realising where this was going, I'd got it after my first month at the plant, I didn't think I'd get it at all here, never mind on the first day.

"Well it's your work." He began.

"I'm going too fast?" I asked.

"Kinda." He replied, shaking his hand.

"I'll try to slow up a little." I said. "But I really can't help it, I get into a trance when woodworking and the things make themselves."

"Well we don't want to be put out of a job by immigrants." Young Quil joked.

"Would it really be so bad here though?" I asked. "The bosses know about me, know I got advantages over you. Is there a quota to fill? If there is I could work to that every month and down tools when I finish."

"Well I'm not sure, Grandpa Quil can get funny at times." Young Quil said with a frown.

"I don't think there's a problem." The women said.

"Really Jackie? There's no problem?" Young Quil demanded.

"All that's gonna happen is that Grandpa Quil and Uncle Bernie will sell more stock, which means more money and more materials. It's not like he's showing us up or anything. I think you're just jealous you're not the fastest anymore just because you got lucky with the genes." Jackie replied.

"She does have a point." Ross observed as the three other women at the table nodded in agreement.

"You think it's so great being a wolf?" Young Quil demanded with a growl.

"You get all the girls falling at your feet." Ross said with a shrug.

"I can't do anything with them though." Young Quil complained.

"You imprinted?" I asked with a frown.

Quil let out a weary breath that told me a lot more about the situation than I was getting from his mind.

"It's hard bro." I replied. "I had to wait ten years for mine."

Quil nodded.

"I'll slow down." I promised, and lunch was over.

I tried to work as slow as possible, which seemed difficult cause I just liked to get on with my work. I had to try and make it about inspection. I inspected every cut piece several times until I was starting to feel like I was developing OCD. No matter, by the end of the day Medium Quil and Bernie still congratulated me on my progress. I smiled and took the compliment with good grace before I walked home with my toolbox in hand feeling downcast.

"She's only three." Young Quil said, coming up beside me.

"Who is?" I asked, feeling distracted.

"Tracey, the one I imprinted on." He elaborated.

"I see." I said, feeling sorry for him.

"You said you had to wait ten years. How old was yours?" He asked.

"Seventeen." I replied.

"But you said…"

"I was seven."

"Oh." Young Quil said, trying to think of what to say next.

"I'm a half vamp right? So I aged fast." I explained.

"So you were technically an adult." He said with a shrug.

"That's too complicated to really work out." I replied. "It's all about personal perception."

"I just never thought about that." Young Quil said with a shrug. "Well this is my stop, see you around."

"See you." I said and walked on to my house at the other end of the Res.

We ate dinner together, talking about our various days. Then us adults settled down to watch TV once the girls had been out to bed, Magda excited because Principal Pikehunter had phoned to say she could start school on Monday. It was about an hour later, when the girls were asleep, that Hunter made a noise of protest before saying, "Well since you girls are hogging the TV, me and Tony here will go watch the game out in the Den."

"What?" I asked, I'd been getting into the movie that was on and I was enjoying it more than any game.

"Come on kid, you're my ticket out of the yoke of oppressive rom-coms." He pleaded.

"Tony you go or Hunter he'll sulk all night." Olwen said.

"There's a beer in it for you." Hunter enticed.

I looked at Grace and she shrugged.

"We'll have a girls night, you go have a guys night." She said.

I had no choice then so I got to my feet and followed Hunter out to the kitchen where he grabbed a six-pack from the fridge then outside. It was as we rounded the house I realised what he meant by 'the Den', it was the old plastic sheds that had served the kids in our family for decades since Grandpa Jake had built himself a garage out of them.

Hunter had been out here decorating again, he'd taken down the old plasterboard and put up some plywood. The furniture in here was newer than it had been, cheap, but not off the side of the road like the ones Mom and her friends had commandeered when they were the resident teen tearaways. Now it looked like a bit of a bachelor pad and it was clear other pack members came here to hang too because there was a load of beanbags as well as the furniture. There was a small plasma screen attached to the wall and a cable box and DVD player underneath as well as more old-fashioned pastimes, like a dartboard and Jenga.

"How come you didn't tell me about this sooner?" I asked.

"You got to be a certified member of the pack to enter the den." Hunter joked as he dropped down into his chair and indicated the one to his left. "Plus we had to have a real good reason to escape the women folk."

"Do you really want to escape Olwen that much?" I asked as he stood back up, turned on the TV and slumped back down into his armchair.

"Nah, but you can feel the tension building right?" He asked.

"You guys are fighting?" I exclaimed feeling shocked.

Hunter gave me a blank look for a moment.

"Not that kind of tension." He said before hitting the controller in his hand and the TV flickered to life.

"You mean…" I began and I wasn't sure if he was giving me a lead in, but I decided to take it as that. "This morning when we got back from running, as soon as Grace and I went to the bedroom, I had no choice but to love her."

"Drink this." Hunter said, pushing a beer into my hand.

"Why?" I asked.

"I need you to lose a few brain cells and take your vocab down a notch or two if we're gonna do this, you sound like Liza." He stated.

"Sorry." I said and took a swig of the beer. "Do you get horny when you come back from running the border?"

"Big time." Hunter said.

"So it's not weird?" I asked.

"Well you're into science right?" He began.

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"Well think of it in instinct and urges terms. We spend hours giving ourselves over to our instincts when we're running, it's hard to get back into human mode to start with, then we come into contact with our imprints who we burn for at the best of times…"

"I thought that might have been it. I just wanted to be sure." I said.

"It's intense right?" He observed.

"Yeah." I said. "But I never felt it after running before today."

"But I bet you ain't never run as long as we did last night before have you?" He asked.

"No." I replied.

"That's my theory anyway." He said with a shrug.

"But I didn't feel the need until we got in the bedroom and Grace…" I began.

"Initiated things?" He offered.

I nodded.

"It's the whole, we're whatever they want us to be rules of imprinting I guess." Hunter mused, before he drained his beer and reached for another.

"That's probably it." I conceded.

"Cheer up kid, it's not all bad." Hunter said. "You had fun right?"

"Yeah." I said, feeling a little embarrassed cause Hunter is still my uncle.

"And Grace had a good time?" He asked, but it was clear he knew the answers now, he was just trying to make a point.

I nodded.

"And she didn't think you were out of control?"

"Just madly more passionate than usual."

"Then what's the big deal?" He demanded. "Just enjoy it when it happens and be glad we're not boring normal folk who's sex lives dull with age, but instead we get variety and intensity forever. Worth losing control now and then right?"

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Just remember to lock your door." He said and I glared at him, what had he read this morning. "Couldn't have stopped even if someone walked in." He added with a grin, he had caught some of my thoughts this morning.

"Yeah, well that did happen to Grace and me once and it was embarrassing." I said, just so he knew my worry wasn't a needless one.

"Who was it?" He asked.

"Prue." I replied.

"She never said." Hunter chuckled.

"She couldn't." I admitted.

"Tony Black, I'm shocked! Abusing your powers like that!" Hunter exclaimed, but then he chuckled. "I can see why you'd silence Prue. She does like to tease."

"Yep."

"So how is everything going at the Northern Heights Home for Baby Vamps?"

"Good." I replied. "I think Prue finally found her calling. She's adopted Zeke outright and I think she might be planning to adopt Moesha as well cause Tibbi named her after his mother, but the others are more like foster kids, only staying there a while until they can be re-homed. I think it's up to the kids though, Zeke always intended to stay, but Ritchie, it's clear he's just biding his time until he can get adopted into a family where he's an only child. I don't think he likes having to share. But I can't be one hundred percent certain, I only get the little snippet here and there, you know what it's like."

"Especially when you're trying not to mind read." Hunter observed. "So the kids she got staying there now, how many are there?"

"At the moment there's only three. It did go up to six, but the others were found new homes and there was one who was re-united with her mother's friends. I think she was going to join with the coven cause she was in love with one of the members but she wanted to finish college first and reach her mid-twenties cause that's how old the vampire was but she got captured by the slavers and put in a baby factory."

"God this baby factory business is getting out of hand. We really need to do something about it." Hunter observed.

"The trouble is it's like dandelions. We can cut down as many flowers as we want but the roots are still there, waiting to pop up again without warning. It's hard to root out who's responsible. A few of the big southern covens act quickly to stomp out any unauthorised settlements, but they mainly spring up in nomad lands our in South America where the VCAC treaty ends. But they have raids into our lands, kidnapping women to make dhampir to sell to the slavers. I guess the only consolation is that they stopped targeting free range half vamps."

"I wouldn't bet on that." Hunter stated. "They just got better at targeting the half vamps that won't get reported. They wouldn't go after our kids again unless they wanted to declare war. I think Billie was a mistake, maybe they didn't realise exactly who she was, but targeting a member of the Cullen Clan drew attention to what they were doing. If they hadn't tried taking her would we even know they were kidnapping half vamps for food? No way. We just thought it was all about slavery, and that was bad enough, but the food thing makes them more prized. It always shocks me when I hear how many kids they rescue when they raid one of these places. How many vamps are they supplying? How many vamps are just turning a blind eye to them. How many of them have actually traded? I mean we think that we're all united, but there's a lot of carnies who are only in the coalition so they don't get on Jane's bad side."

"I wonder too." I said. "But I'm not really political and got no interest in being political. I don't know if I'd want to even question Jane about it, or anyone who might know cause she'd think I was volunteering myself to help. And although I'll help if there was no other choice, I don't want to risk leaving Magda without a father for nothing."

"My thoughts exactly." Hunter said as he drained his second beer. "God this convo got depressing, how did we get to this?"

"You asked about Prue." I reminded him.

"Yeah, but I only wanted to know how many kids she had with her now." He protested. "Three was it? Are any of them feral?"

"Not as far as I can tell." I replied. "Why?"

"I just want to know the full details for when she wants to visit and we have to petition the Elders. It's so much easier to know what I'm fighting for in advance." He stated.

"Where would they stay?" I asked.

"Well I guess the hotel, but they'd still be coming onto Res land."

I nodded.

Hunter stood up and stretched out.

"Well I'm gonna get me an early night, we're running tomorrow with Team Gambit and they're a little more excitable than Team Wolverine. Takes more to keep them in check." He said.

"Wouldn't it be better to spread them out a bit." I asked as I stood up too.

"Nah. I need the different sections to work together." Hunter said as he turned off the TV at the mains. "It's about getting them in tune with each other so that they're there to support each other when we're one big pack. The next big run is next weekend by the way so you'll get to see it more then, but in a sense Rupert is my gamma and I like to take the NCOs out together to train separate from the excitable pups."

"But isn't Miles new?"

"Yeah, I always take the noobs out with Team Wolverine the first few times just to get a handle on what type of wolf they are. Whether they're more a Gambit or a Nightcrawler."

"Why did you name the mini-packs after X-Men?" I asked with a laugh.

"Why not." Hunter said with a shrug as we left the Den and headed back to the house.

_Now remember, before you get carried away, lock your bedroom door._ He teased before we stepped into the house. "Has the movie ended?"

"Yes." Olwen said, rising to her feet. "It is time for bed."

"See you both in the morning." Hunter said with a salute before he disappeared down the corridor with Olwen.

"We should probably get to sleep too." I said, motioning down the corridor with my head.

"Oh yes, sleep is very important." Grace said as she turned everything off in the room before taking my hand and looking up into my eyes. "We should really go get some sleep."

Three hours later we surfaced, Grace lying against my chest as we both got our breath back.

_So far I got to say I'm loving being on the Res._ She thought toward me as she drew invisible pictures on my chest with her finger.

I made one hundred percent sure that my shield was up protecting us from Hunter.

_It's the sex right?_ I replied as I pulled the blanket up around us.

_That's one perk._ Grace said. _But you're clearly happier here and Magda had so much fun on the beach today and is looking forward to going to school. There's so much inspiration too. I'm thinking of starting another book, just dabbling a little at first, but there's so many stories I can get out of this land. I'll have to buy a new laptop first though. Maybe we could take Magda for a trip into Port Angeles tomorrow._

_What's wrong with the one you got?_ I asked.

_I'm giving it to Olwen so she can learn to type and become a storyteller for the modern age._

_Sounds great_. I replied._ I'm glad you're getting along._

_Me too Tony._ Grace said with a sigh as she began to get drowsy with sleep. _And I'm glad we moved here now. Our life here is going to be wonderful._

_Yeah._ I agreed and kissed the top of her head before I drifted to sleep with my Grace in my arms.

* * *

**Thank you for reading**

**Please review**

**Gemma x**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer**

**This chapter is dedicated to Noble, Fadewind, M-Bianca94, Alphabloodwolf, Cara Gracious, Patricia, Lsb123, and BellaNessieCullen**

**Just a little word to say that this is actually a little earlier than the current timeline in DH, it wouldn't matter so much other than one little thing Grace says during this chapter so I thought I'd mention it just to save confusion.**

* * *

**Grace**

We set out at ten for Port Angeles in the little Nissan Hunter used when he didn't need his truck. Magda spent most of the time looking out the window as the world went by and I'd forgot how much she liked doing that. I'd have to bring my car when we visited back home. It was probably better for me to have my own transport anyway.

Tony hated shopping, but he had to come along for this, we were buying our daughter's first school outfit and it was important. I didn't want to get her a whole new wardrobe, and nothing too fancy that would make her stand out more than she already would begin a half vamp. But still, I wanted her to have something nice for her first day.

In the end she settled on some jeans and plaid shirts, although they were in pink, yellow and other obviously girly colour schemes. She needed new shoes and she chose some sturdy boots that would see her through to the end of the month until her feet grew again. I bought the next three sizes up as well because she liked them so much, at least it would see her through to the end of the school year.

Since we got the shopping out of the way early I decided to treat Tony and stop him moaning about the shopping by taking him to see a movie. Magda agreed with me that he'd been a good boy all morning and deserved a treat.

"Great, ganging up on me." Tony grumbled, but he was joking, like he did when he said he was outnumbered.

"You can choose the film Daddy." Magda said.

"Well in that case…" Tony said in conciliatory tones.

When we reached the cinema everything went out the window. In all the chaos of moving Tony and I had forgotten about the film, but as soon as we entered the foyer there was no getting away from it.

"Oh! My! Gosh!" Magda squealed as she ran up to the enormous cardboard cut out. "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity!" She said in awe as she touched each of the colourful ponies. "It's the movie right?" She asked as she turned to us. "Like they showed in the trailer before the Snow Queen?"

"Yes." I replied since there wasn't any point in denying it, she could read.

"Daddy?" Magda said, looking up at him expectantly.

He looked down at Magda before glancing at the screenings board.

"I don't know, I quite fancy watching Danger at Deep Ridge." He said.

Magda looked up at him sadly.

"Ok. My Little Pony it is." Tony said, rolling his eyes.

"Don't act like you're not a Brony at heart." I teased as I slid my arm through his and took Magda's hand before heading to the counter to buy tickets.

Tony ordered our tickets, giving the kid on the counter a no-nonsense look that stopped him from smirking at the big guy buying tickets for a little girl film. I laughed as we walked away from the counter and Tony frowned at me, but I kissed his cheek and he rolled his eyes.

There wasn't long to wait before we could go into the theatre and we found seats at the back. It really was the only option unless Tony hunkered down for the entire film so the people behind him could see the screen. We got a booster seat for Magda though just to make sure that she could see.

The film wasn't all that bad, it was an assault of colour obviously, but all in all the plot was ok and I got into it after a while. I guess it spoke to the kid in me who had loved My Little Pony because they were horses that talked. How cool was that to an equestrian brat like me? Anyway, I enjoyed the film, not as much as Magda though and I knew she was wishing she'd brought her Pinkie Pie plushie along, but we weren't even planning on coming to the movies today, let alone watch My Little Pony.

After the movie had ended Tony conceded that it wasn't so bad. He'd enjoyed it, he was into cartoons if they were funny enough, and I knew he'd give a better review later, but he liked to think about things first unless he had critical complaints he had to talk about immediately.

We went to McDonalds afterwards and Magda got a mini Rarity with her Happy Meal. It turned out to be a good day out and we decided to kick back a little once we reached the Res. I wanted Magda to have a nice quiet day before she started school, god I never thought I'd see the day, but I was happy that she could start now rather than when she resembled a teenager and would be thrown in at the deep end.

We lazed about in the afternoon, sitting out on the porch with Olwen and Hunter while Magda and Keelie played ball in the little yard next to the house.

"They are horses who talk?" Olwen asked.

"Yeah." I said.

"That is funny." She laughed. "We will have to see this Hunter."

"What?" He asked in shock. "Thanks kid, you really set me up on this one."

"Not my fault Uncle Hunter, I was outvoted." Tony said with a shrug.

"Why couldn't we have a son?" Hunter groaned.

"Maybe it is time we had another child." Olwen said without even blinking.

"Might have another girl and I'll be even more outnumbered." Hunter grumbled.

"Well she could be a tomboy and there's nothing to say a son wouldn't like My Little Pony." I observed.

"Shall we have another baby?" Olwen prompted.

"Not really something we should discuss in front of other people Ol." Hunter stated.

"But they are family and our household." Olwen observed.

"Yeah, but still it's for us to decide and it's none of their business." Hunter replied but it was obvious Olwen wasn't taking the hint.

"It's true." I said. "I mean, you could talk to me about it if you wanted to when we're on our own."

"But you can't give me a child." She said with a frown.

"It's called girl talk." I stated. "We talk about what we'd like in the future, but the actual planning you wouldn't tell me about."

"I see." Olwen said, looking thoughtful. "Then we will talk tonight when our men folk are running."

"Ok." I agreed.

"And Hunter, we talk tomorrow." She said firmly.

"We can talk right now if you really want to it." He offered.

"No. It would be rude to leave Kyelax with Grace and Tony without arranging it before, but perhaps they watch her for us tomorrow." Olwen said and it was clear she wouldn't take no for an answer.

"An hour wouldn't hurt." I said with a shrug before Hunter could protest.

"Then we have plans." Olwen said firmly. "Now what we have for dinner?"

"Anyone feel like cooking?" I asked.

Nobody sounded enthusiastic.

"Can we have pizza?" Magda asked, suddenly on the porch.

"We already had fast food today." I said biting my lip.

"Would it hurt again? We'll make up for it with nothing but salad tomorrow." Tony replied.

"Salad." Magda said, screwing up her nose.

"Well if we pig out today we have to be good tomorrow." Tony stated.

"How about we make something simple like a stew?" Olwen suggested. "We could all help with preparing the vegetables."

"The kitchen's kinda small." I pointed out.

"We could do it out here." Olwen stated.

I considered for a moment and it did sound kinda fun and it wasn't raining or anything.

"Why not." I said.

Five minuets later we were peeling vegetables between us adding them to separate pots ready to be cooked later. Even Magda and Keelie were helping with stripping cabbage leaves for Tony to chop.

Instead of cooking it indoors, we set up a fire pit and Olwen cooked the stew, as she would have done thousands of years ago when she was young. Then it was just a case of letting it bubble away while we carried on with our lazy afternoon before the stew was ready and we all had a bowl each and ate outside. Magda loved it, more than if we'd had a boring pizza and she had two helpings of what was basically just vegetables in water. I'd have to remember to do this in the future when she got into one of her 'I hate vegetables' moods.

All in all it was a fun afternoon, even if Olwen and I got left with all the dishes. I guess it was something for us to do when Tony and Hunter went to run.

It was hard to say goodbye again, but Tony needed me to look happy for him to go out to the border and risk his life. I smiled and kissed him goodbye, wishing to any higher being that might be listening to protect him when he was out tonight, and well any night he had to run.

I convinced myself it would be ok and it was all worth it when he rolled in at five in the morning full of wolf energy and ready to take this red riding hood to places beyond the dark wood.

Tony laughed as he pulled me in closer, he'd so read that last thought, which was a little embarrassing.

_I'll eat you all up._ He thought as he placed a chaste kiss that completely contrasted the intensity of his thoughts. _Just as soon as I get back. Just promise me you'll at least try to sleep tonight._

_I'll try but I can't promise I will._ I replied.

_Well I guess it doesn't matter as long as you got the energy in the morning._ He observed and hugged me tightly until Hunter called him. "See you in the morning." He said aloud.

"Promise?" I asked.

"With all my heart." He replied and kissed me again before he went to Hunter who was waiting at the door.

They left and I moved with Olwen to the door so we could watch them disappear into the darkness and the trees. I felt the heavy burden fall on my shoulders, knowing I wouldn't feel relieved until Tony was back here in my arms where I knew he was safe.

"The fate of us wolf wives." Olwen said sadly as she placed her arm around me. "Now, we talk of babies?"

I looked at her for a moment, but I realised this was her coping mechanism, to find distractions.

"How about we clean the kitchen and then we talk?" I suggested.

"Sounds good to me." Olwen observed, and clapped me on the back.

We went into the kitchen to find distractions for the long night ahead.

* * *

**Tony**

Even though we'd gone shopping in the morning, Sunday was mostly a lazy day so I was in snooze mode when Hunter said it was time to head out to the meeting place. I stood with a stretch and a yawn while I tried to wake myself up. I needed to get psyched to run, but I wanted to sleep after a day of doing nothing.

Grace was thinking about the morning as an incentive to get her through the long night of waiting and though I don't like her worrying about me, her method to try and not worry seemed perfect for me to try too. So after we shared our goodbyes and hopes for the morning I left with Hunter, but I still felt the lingering fingers of fatigue pull at me.

I thought about the morning, coming back after a long night running, my adrenaline pumping once more, my instincts in complete control as I felt Grace in my arms again. The thought perked me up and I was ready to run all night. I was almost bouncing with excitement as I slipped into the trees just ahead of Hunter.

"Wow, that was a transformation." Hunter said. "What happened? Grace promise you sexual favours if you run?"

"Yeah." I said, getting used to his teasing now and realising it was better to just go along than be embarrassed.

"Yo alpha, wait up." Young Quil called from behind us.

"What's wrong?" Hunter asked, slowing a little to let him catch up.

"Nothing, just wanted to get the scoop on what's happening tonight." He said excitedly as he reached us.

"There's nothing happening tonight." Hunter said with a frown.

"We're running with two alphas ain't we?" Young Quil asked.

"Not really." I replied.

"But you're a Fang." He stated.

"Maybe, but I'm not alpha yet. I need to learn the ropes like any other pup." I said with a shrug.

"You wanna shadow me?" Young Quil offered.

"You really up to the job of training an unruly pup Q?" Hunter asked.

"Tony? Unruly?" Young Quil said with a snort. "Seriously you got to be kidding."

"I am." Hunter said. "I was thinking more about Tony having to keep you in check."

"That hurts boss, really." Young Quil joked as we reached the meeting place and Marshall straightened up from the tree he was leaning against.

"You bugging the boss again Q-tip?" He asked.

"Bite me Marshwater." Young Quil growled and Marshall squared up to him, but Hunter held up his hand.

"If you can't get along you can go back to bed." He said firmly and they settled down although there was still tension between them.

Something big was going on, Marshall was usually calm, but it wasn't the best time to question it. I'd ask Hunter tomorrow once we'd finished running.

"Where's Hugo and Mad?" Hunter asked.

"They were roped in to helping Principle Pikehunter to decorate the school hall for the crafts fair this week. I only just managed to talk my way out of it, but Pikey pulled the mommy card on Hugo, and Mad couldn't think up an excuse fast enough." Marshall explained.

"How long are they gonna be?" Hunter asked.

"We're here boss." Hugo said, jogging into the clearing with Mad on his tail.

Mad was a girl, I guess I should have figured that out, Madison Littlesea was the only person on the Res whose name could shorten to Mad. But it could have been a nickname. I felt a moment of apprehension; I'd only ever ran with the guys, how did the transformation work with a female in our midst. When I run with Mom we found separate bushes, but that seemed as if it would be clumsy right now.

_You got nothing she ain't seen before._ Hunter thought.

"We had to escape through the fire exit in the end." Madison was explaining in the meantime. "You really should have a word with her about roping us into things when we got to run."

"Can't you alpha her or something?" Hugo asked.

"You want me to alpha your own mother?" Hunter asked and Hugo shrugged before he looked at me. "Or you could do it."

"It would be unethical." I stated.

"Yep, my nephew is all for ethics when it comes to alpharing people." Hunter declared as he socked me on the shoulder and I rolled my eyes, wishing I hadn't told him about Prue. "We're all here, lets suit up."

Madison didn't think twice before pulling off her t-shirt, and Hugo got in a crafty glance as he pulled off his shorts. He'd never try anything with her, she was too scary for him, plus the only wolf couple to come out of the packs was Daphne and Jim, and even now people thought they were crazy. Wolves never imprinted on wolves, it was probably for a reason.

I pushed everything from my mind as I pulled off my shorts, tied them quickly to my ankle and let the heat explode through me. I was the first to drop my front paws onto the forest floor, although the others weren't far behind.

_Yeah, Tony run with Q, you got the west border._ Hunter said as if we hadn't had an entirely different conversation in between Young Quil offering to coach me.

_Yes boss._ I said, deciding to use the same as everyone else.

_Come on kid, I'll take point. _Young Quil said and I fell in on his left flank, letting him lead if he wanted to, I had no problem with that, I was still learning. _We get the good border. The scenic border. The border with the nice breeze coming in off the ocean._

_Don't rub it in or else._ Marshall grumbled.

_Quit grumbling Marshwater._ Young Quil retorted.

_Go chew on a vamp._ Marshall sniped back.

_If you two don't cut it out you can run every night for a month._ Hunter warned.

They both grumbled in their minds but they shut up.

_You need to chill a little Marsh._ Hugo said. _You know you can't help who you imprint on._

Marshall snorted in derision.

_You can't possibly know if you've never imprinted._ Madison chimed in. _Can't you read it though, how absolute and out of control it is in the minds of the Fangs and Q?_

_This is to do with you imprinting on Tracey?_ I asked Young Quil.

_Yeah._ He growled.

_I'm not being funny, but what's this got to do with you Marshall?_ I asked, and then I got it in a rush, Marshall was a little embarrassed to admit that he liked to play the field, but sometimes he wasn't so careful. _She's your daughter?_ I'd really been out of the loop not to have heard that Marshall had a three-year-old daughter.

_Didn't know myself till four months ago._ He stated.

He didn't elaborate but I got that the mother, Colette, was as free with her love as Marshall was. There were four possible fathers and after the other three proved negative she decided it must have been Marshall, who was such a one night stand she didn't even remember his name, just that he was Quileute. She asked him to do a paternity test just in case.

_How did you get around that one?_ I asked, because there were a few little markers on phasing Quileute DNA that might raise a few questions in a lab somewhere.

_She expected me to pay so I sent the samples to Carlisle._ Marshall replied.

_Smart move._ I conceded.

_Well I couldn't let the norms get hold of Quileute DNA and wonder what the hell is going on here._ Marshall observed.

_Last thing we need is science types ruining our fairytale word._ Young Quil observed.

_Too right._ Marshall agreed.

_So you agree on some things._ I observed.

_Don't hold your breath kid, I'm still pissed that he's after my little girl._ Marshall growled.

_But he's not after your little girl. Just means she got two big wolves who want to protect her._ I observed.

It's easy for you to say that, but how would you feel if I went and imprinted on Magda tomorrow? Marshall demanded.

_Well other than the fact that it would be completely impossible because Magda is a wolf herself, or at least she will be as soon as she hits the right age, I'd know it wouldn't be anything more than friendship until she is ready._ I stated calmly so I didn't antagonise him any more than necessary.

_So what about you and Grace?_ Marshall asked.

_Well that was different_. I began. _I led her to believe I was the same age as her so the desire grew between us in the more normal high school way before I did imprint on her and she found out my age. That was a case of the girl wanting more before she was comfortable with the guy being ready. Remember imprinting is all about what the imprintee wants. I guess if I looked my age then Grace wouldn't have looked twice at me, heck I wouldn't have even have imprinted at that point._

_Heck? _Madison questioned with a laugh.

_Try growing up with Liza as your sister and you'd sensor your cursing too._ I replied.

_Plus it gets kinda automatic when you got kids. _Hunter added.

_Hell you curse all the time boss!_ Madison exclaimed.

_Damn right I do. I take advantage of the damn freedom running with you uncivilised potty-mouthed bastards offers me_. Hunter replied.

_Wow, it's motivational to know you think of us in that way boss._ Young Quil said sadly.

_Quit it Q, you're worse than anyone._ Hunter stated.

_No I ain't!_ Young Quil exclaimed.

_That's a double negative bro._ Hunter replied. _Kinda means you do._

_Bite me._ Young Quil growled, it seemed to be his catchphrase.

_Tony you're closer._ Hunter observed.

_What? Really?_ I asked shocked.

_Yeah, a little nip keeps the grunts in line._ Hunter stated.

_I'm not biting him! _I exclaimed.

_You disobeying orders?_ Hunter asked.

_Making an executive decision, Sir._ I snappe_d._

_Well Q needs to learn that you can't just say 'bite me' when you can't think of a witty comeback._ Hunter replied.

_It is kind of a dumb response._ I said. _Can you imaging saying it to a vamp? Some of them got a sick sense of humour. I can just imagine someone like Jane before she turned to the good saying, 'with pleasure'._ I explained.

_Yep. Sounds like Jane alright. _Hunter agreed.

_I'll stop saying it then._ Young Quil agreed.

_Good._ Hunter replied. _And if you want to show your old Alpha you're really humble you'll let Tony run point. Not trying to put you down, but he'd be better in that position than you but he's too nice to say anything._

_You should have just said Cuz._ Young Quill, who since everyone else seemed to be calling 'Q' I decided I'd call him that too, said as he fell back into beta position.

_I just wanted to see how you were running point for if I need to assign you to lead a small band at some point in the future_. I stated.

_Nice save._ Madison thought.

_Well, it's true._ I replied.

_Ok, we've warmed up enough tonight, time to get serious._ Hunter stated._ I think since there's six of us running tonight we could test our scouting. Two at a time run out in a direction, while the rest of us run a single line on defence._

_What will we be tracking?_ Marshall asked.

_This morning I went vamp form and run a trail out for ten miles starting a mile from the border. At the end of the trail I left a flag. Bring it back and I'll give you a badge or something. I don't know, you get to lord it over the others._

_But it won't be fair. _Madison said. _Whatever team Tony's on will win._

_Not necessarily. I'll be relying on my nose just like the rest of you. There'll be no mind trail for me to follow_. I stated.

_That's why I did it this way rather than my first idea, which was to ask Tina if she'd run out and let you track her. Sometimes all we got is our noses to lead us along an old trail._ Hunter explained.

_And if they got some way of shielding their mind, or know how to not think cause they know about telepaths._ I pointed out.

_How do you not think?_ Q asked.

_You make sure you don't think vampire thoughts. Try and think human thoughts. Not that I've ever met a vampire who could do it successfully_. Hunter replied.

_Alec can_. I stated. _When he was pretending to be the Russian I tracked him in a storm but couldn't actually get a good lock on a mind to know who I was dealing with._

_That was more to do with his numbing power than his ability to not think._ Hunter stated._ Didn't you become all disorientated?_

_Yeah_. I agreed, realising that it was probably was the case, I had been so disorientated that I'd ran right into Grace's garden pond.

_Why does that scene look familiar?_ Hugo asked.

_Darktide._ Madison said with a snigger.

_That mushy nonsense!_ Q snorted.

_You dissing my wife's work?_ I demanded.

_What?_ Q asked.

_You're so dense._ Marshall said in solemn tones. _I guess it's a good job your great-granddaddy set up that woodcarving business or I'd seriously question how you plan to provide for Tracey when she's older._

_I was intending to sponge off her old man._ Q replied.

Marshall growled and he would have taken a bite toward Q if he'd been near enough.

_Not cool Q._ Hunter said._ And Marsh, you know Q gets all his ideas about books online, so he hasn't really got his own opinion on it. But you really didn't get the Grace Pearson thing?_

_You didn't know at first._ Marshall stated.

_Well thank you for undermining my helping you._ Hunter said sarcastically. _Now enough guys, it's a long night and I got some great exercises planned for you so do you wanna get organised already?_

We all snapped to attention.

_So who's first boss?_ Madison asked.

_Well I think I'll mix you all around, so first up we got Mad and Marsh, then Mad can run with Q. Once you're done Q can run with Hugo, then Hugo with Tony. Tony can run with Marsh, then Marsh with Q, and I don't care what's going on between you guys at the moment, you better get along. Then Q you can run with Tony, Tony with Mad, Mad with Hugo and finally Hugo with Marshall._ Hunter explained.

_What if we don't find the flag by then?_ Mad asked.

_Go back to the beginning. So you and Marshall meet up, decide which direction you want to run in. Tony come around to the cover the east boarder. Q keep to the west, Hugo stay on the south._ Hunter ordered.

We all agreed and moved to our new positions. As I sniffed along the border I kept my mind on Madison and Marshall to see what they were figuring out. If I knew exactly where they were looking I could eliminate it when I was running. And it wasn't cheating because I was only using what the others had on the pack mind, nothing extra.

Madison and Marshall went from the north point, running a mile out and then keeping a mile out from the border, running for a mile but they didn't pick anything up, they ran back Madison grumbling as Q ran across the territory to reach the border and swap places with Marshall. When Madison and Q ran out to the border she wanted to use the same strategy, but Q wanted to run out several miles and from the south. He ignored Madison's suggestion of going from the point she'd searched to with Marshall. He overruled her by pulling the seniority card even though he'd only been phasing a month longer than her. Madison grumbled but complied, knowing she wouldn't get glory with him, but she'd bide her time.

Of course Q couldn't pull seniority on Hugo, but Hugo didn't mind following Q, he wasn't particularly interested in this exercise, he didn't think of himself as much of a tracker anyway, he was more of a fighter. Then I ran with Hugo and I used Madison's plan, she thought I was stealing her idea, but I was using the best idea presented to me at the time.

When I ran with Marshall we ran three foot apart so we covered more ground, we even kept this formation once we were a mile out just in case we were a little short. We didn't find the trail but Marshall was happy with this formation and Q had no choice but to fall in with his future father-in-law, after all Marshall had ten years experience on him. Q really didn't like keeping Marshall's formation, but since it was partly my idea I ignored him when he wanted to run south and called him back into line when he was gonna break formation. We might be the same age, but I'd been phasing longer than him, even if he had run with the packs for longer. The strategy we'd polished as a group might take monger than his scattergun approach, but it was more thorough.

After Q came Madison and she was determined to pull her weight, but she also wanted to show deference to me because I'd one day be her alpha. I assured her that we were equal at the moment and we ran three foot apart. At the end of the mile she got excited, yelping as she circled on a scent.

_You got it?_ I asked.

_Yeah._ She said and I closed into her side. _Then you got point._

_I just happened to be in the right place. Anyway, you're bigger, you'd be better at point to take the foe head on and I can circle round to flank them._ She stated.

_Good point._ I observed. _Ok. I sniffed around and picked up the scent myself. I got it. I got point, you got beta, Marshall can you take the right flank? Q and Hugo, hang back several feet as a second wave if we need it._

_Wait? What?_ Q stammered.

_This wasn't part of the exercise._ Hugo complained.

_You heard your alpha, fall in._ Hunter said, keeping to running the border.

Marshall had already moved in on my right and now Hugo and Q rushed over to us and slowed about ten feet behind but otherwise kept pace. I felt the miles fall away behind us and then I suddenly felt cautious, there was a mind up ahead and while I thought about it, the vamp scent wasn't Hunter's.

_Mom?_ I thought in shock.

And sure enough I burst into a clearing and she was there in her vamp form, standing at the ready.

_We got to fight you?_ I asked.

"I'm not me right now, I'm a big scary vampire." Mom said as she clawed her fingers and bared her teeth.

_What counts as actually beating you?_ I asked.

"Get me down on the floor and hold me there, but guys, no biting and tearing or I will go alpha on all your asses." She warned the others behind me.

We all agreed.

"Now lets pretend the element of surprise hasn't been completely destroyed, and we will begin." She said with a nod.

_Ok guys, let's back up a little into the cover of the bushes. I want you all to stay in the cover and take up positions where you can attack if need be_. I stated.

As they did that I stepped out into the clearing on guard but not threatening.

_You're close to Quileute territory._ I said.

"Ha! So the wolves are real." Mom said in a sneering voice. "Never believed it myself, but you live and learn, or un-live and learn."

_Yeah, well we'll escort you down to the south past our land or you can head back east, but either way you can't hunt on this land, it's vegetarian territory._ I replied.

"I heard you had these stupid rules here in America, but I don't have to abide by them. I'm not exactly living here." Mom said dismissively.

_Have you killed here?_ I asked.

"Why? Worried I'm cutting into your kibble rations poochie?" Mom retorted. "I fed in Seattle."

_I'm sorry to hear you shed human blood in Washington State._ I said and lunged at her.

I had to remind myself that it was Mom as she dodged my leap and sent me flying. I skidded down on my side, hitting the wind out of me and it took all of my self-control not to turn around and tear out her throat. Meanwhile Hugo leapt out of the bushes to Mom's right and he managed to drag her down to the floor. Madison was close behind him and together they pinned Mom down and she declared herself dead.

I got to my feet ready to organise the burning as if we had just killed a vamp when there was a roar from beside me, and something cannoned into my side. I rolled away, got back up onto my feet and turned to face Dad just as Q leapt at him, jaws open.

_Don't bite, it's my Dad!_ I yelled and in the moment of confusion Dad flung him away and I pulled the pack together, _He's an old vamp, he knows how to fight, we got to work as one._

Madison run toward Dad, feinting to the left, Hugo doing the same to the right, I run right for Dad and as he prepared for the main attack from me, Marshall leapt at him, pushing him down to the floor and we all piled on top of him.

"Very well, I am no more." He stated, but then I got the flash of warning and turned just as Billie dropped from the tree above me and landed on my back.

I should have known she'd be here too.

_I'm not fighting you Bills_. I said.

"Why not?" She demanded.

_You're a half vampire, how likely would one be hanging around with a bunch of carnies?_ I asked.

"With the amount of slavery going on right now it could very well happen. And I've been brainwashed from birth to protect my parents no matter what. I'm every bit the carnie they are and now I fancy a taste of wolf blood." She growled and buried her face into the fur at the back of my neck.

_There's not actually a vein there, but if you insist_. I rolled over onto my back and if it really had been someone out to really hurt me I would have ground them into the forest floor with my shoulder blades.

Instead I twisted out of Billie's arms and was up and holding her down with one paw, sniffing at her hair.

"Gross, your nose is all wet." She said, pushing my snout away.

Hugo run up and licked her face, she giggled.

"Ok. I'm dead too. Now let me up." She said, trying to push my paw away.

_You're dead._ I said.

_Ok Tone, exercise over._ Hunter called. _Everyone back to the border. You got ten minutes, I'm sure Q can cope on his own for that long._

_Thanks._ I replied and the others grumbled a little as they ran back to the border.

I decided to change back to speak to my family, so I went behind a bush and changed before pulling on my shorts. I stepped out into the clearing where Mom was looking Billie over to see if she was hurt and Dad was brushing the dirt off his jacket.

"Tony." Billie sang as she broke away from Mom and hugged me, "Were you hurt at all? I thought you would end up with a couple of bruised ribs at least how you hit the tree."

"I'm ok." I assured her as I hugged her back. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We were hunting nearby when Hunter was out here ready to set up his tracking challenge, so we offered our services." Mom replied. "They're not bad, but they do need to think more as one."

"Well I'm new and Madison has just transferred over from Tina's pack. Plus the two alpha thing is confusing the hell out of them at the moment." I explained.

"You'll soon gel, but nice work ascertaining I was guilty, but why didn't you just read my mind?" She asked.

"Well since it was you I didn't bother. Of course if I had I would have known about Dad and Billie." I mused.

"Yeah. Use every tool at your disposal." Mom stated as she reached up to ruffle my hair.

"I will in future, but then I wasn't really taking this seriously cause it was you guys." I stated.

"What if we happened to be shapeshifters?" Dad asked.

"I would have known. Your scent would have been wrong and I know your minds. It's not something shapeshifters are known for being able to copy." I replied.

"Yeah." Billie agreed with me.

"Well just remember to keep your mind open next time." Mom said as she hugged me. "Now get back to border duty and we'll see you next weekend."

"Ok." I replied. "Oh yeah, Mags starts school tomorrow."

"What? Why didn't you say?" Mom demanded.

"I forgot." I admitted.

"Well I'll put it down to you being busy." Mom said.

"We can organise and send a gift tomorrow." Dad said. "However we must head home now to ensure that Billie has adequate sleep before school."

"I told you, I'm ok." Billie interjected. "I can go one night without sleep and still concentrate the next day."

"Still it's better you try to get sleep Baby." Mom said as she put her arm around Billie. "Well we're going now."

"See you next week." I said before darting back toward the border.

I ran two miles away from my parents and sister before I pulled off my shorts, tied them to my ankle and ran on, phasing on the fly.

_Why don't you run with Hugo now._ Hunter said and I agreed before joining Hugo on the eastern border.

I settled into running for the rest of the night.

* * *

**Grace**

"We have done all the tasks we can find, now we talk?" Olwen asked.

"Well we should get us a drink of coffee first and then we can talk." I said.

"Then we will have a drink and sit down." Olwen announced.

Once the coffee was ready we sat down at the table.

"I do want more children." Olwen said. "I don't know how many but I do want them."

"Me too." I said as I sipped my coffee. "Well at least one more, a boy so Tony doesn't feel so outnumbered."

Olwen chuckled.

"Hunter use that argument too. If there is a choice and I side with Kyelax, we are ganging up."

"Maybe it's because he grew up in a house with more guys than women. Actually there was only Nessie when there was always Hunter and Jake and before that Hunter's great-grandfather Charlie used to live here." I stated.

"Yes. And before that his cousin Max and before that still his grandfather Billy."

"Yeah." I agreed. "But I never met Billy."

"But you meet Charlie?"

"Yes. He was an old man by then, over a hundred, but I got to meet him once." I confirmed.

"And I was fossilised at that point." Olwen mused.

"Fossilised?" I asked, surprised she knew the word.

"That's how you say it? I was looking on the computer box about stuff and found that word. They have great beasts from before the time of man with sharp teeth and bigger than a mountain. Their bones are now made of stone."

"That's right. That's fossilisation." I said. "But you weren't dead."

"No. But I was suspended in stone to be found in the future time after my people have long faded away." Olwen said sadly.

"You still have your mother." I said in consolation. "And your family still exists to this day."

"But my people are gone, the traditions forgotten. Even in Marcia, the one charged with the duty to keep the secrets and the traditions she is wrong. It has become muddled over the years. The stories warped by additions and embellishments, that the word you used the other day?"

I nodded.

"There are these that changed the story. They forgot I was fighting for our people, so we could live together and safe and have no force pull us apart, but they didn't keep together, they are spread out, the memory kept only by 'the Kyelax' and the others think it a pretty story like the King Arthur and the Hercules and the other such warriors of old stories."

"God, I can't imagine what it would be like to find out how your legend survives millennia after the fact." I wondered.

"You write the stories. They will survive perhaps but they change with the tellings. Like that bad video on the YouTube that they made your story but it was wrong. I left them a scathing review in the comments and many people they agree with me. It has many of the thumbs down. The video, not my comment."

"You've really been getting into the internet haven't you?" I observed.

"Hunter went out this morning and took Kyelax with him to run and I stayed here and made better friends with this magic. It's marvellous to know that I sit here and talk to someone so many worlds away. So far a distance I never thought the world could be so big, yet I see it all on the screen and how funny shaped the land is and how greatly big the sea and oceans are. We were right to respect the water gods and give the gods in their rivers thanks when we won in battle."

"How did you do that?" I asked, always eager to find out more about an ancient culture from someone who lived it.

"If a sword is so good that it wins you the battle then it's blessed by the gods, it's only right to give it back to them." Olwen explained.

"You did it with every sword?" I asked.

"Yes." Olwen replied.

"Even your vamp killing sword?" I asked, because it didn't seem likely.

"No. That sword was gifted by the little spirit, he wanted it at my side always." Olwen stated.

"So it's your sword that kills vampires?" I questioned because Olwen had never been one hundred percent clear on this.

"I used to think it was the sword, that's why the little spirit wanted me to keep it with me. If I gave it away to the river gods and made a new sword and it worked too on the flesh of the stone men then in time I might start to ask if his power is so great."

"Or if it was coming from you?"

"Yes." Olwen agreed.

"Has it got something to do with your weather abilities?"

"I think it is a part that, but also part of the spirit within me. It is like our husbands, they link with the wolf spirit of their forefathers yes?"

"Yeah." I agreed.

"It made them to shape shifters to give them teeth and claws that rip through stone men as if they are normal flesh. I think the little spirit let me concentrate my weather powers into the iron blade of my sword and I then had no need to change, I could slice them and match their speed and strength."

"You know, it's kinda like the spirits want to protect humans from vampires when you think about it." I observed.

"I agree with you." Olwen said. "Even if the wolf spirit merged with Taha-Aki to disperse the traitor Utlapa who had stolen his body to begin with, perhaps it had spoken with other spirits, knew of the threat of the stone men otherwise would they need such strong teeth and claws to fight off other men."

"It's plausible. Your people did worship spirits in nature and so did the Quileute, there could be a link." I conceded.

"I know there are little spirits, and bigger ones in the great places that are akin to gods in other more civilised cultures, but I cannot see there being only one great god, but he assigns tasks to underlings who seem like spirits from what I read."

"Well I'm not sure how to answer that. Mom and Dad were very secular, yeah we had Christmas, but it was the societal Christmas without a Nativity in sight. Mom liked to study the old gods of other cultures, but that's as theological as she ever got."

"You see no magic in life?" Olwen asked.

"I used to see only science, after all it was the search for new ways to insure health and long life that allowed me to live when really I should have died. In your time I would have." I explained.

"How?"

"I had a bad heart and science fixed it. I must have had some capacity to accept magic though, cause I didn't even think for a moment that Tony's world was impossible. But having your best guy friend pick you up and run so fast the street lights blur, then have those two people move like sharks toward you, then see your friend turn into a giant ass wolf, well I'd have to be the dense kind of sceptic to deny the evidence of my own senses."

"I wonder what I would have been if born in these days with no knowledge of magic. Tony's sister, her husband he is like my people, from the Britons island. Even better the lands that my people survived and not over run by other peoples who turned up later."

"He's from Wales and of course there's Scotland, Cornwall and Ireland." I said.

"The corner lands and the north lands." Olwen observed.

"Yeah."

"Well Liza's husband knows nothing of our magic even though he is our people." She stated.

"He can move things with his mind, that's pretty magical." I said.

"It is, but he doesn't think of it as such and doesn't think it's a blessing of the spirits."

"How do you know? Have you discussed it with him?"

"No." Olwen admitted.

"Then maybe you should ask Malachite next time you see him because not only is he your people from where he was born, but his mother was Irish so he's very much Celtic."

"Yes. And so is his son." Olwen stated.

"I suppose you could say Addie is part Celt, but you know Liza is Roman right, well along with the Quileute, the Anglo and the French, but I guess the French counts as Celtic too."

"He is enough Celt, but shame he is a boy." Olwen observed.

"Why?" I asked.

"I cannot teach him my knowledge, and I was never taught the male knowledge." She explained.

"Things are different these days, there's not really set guidelines to gender distinction other than what parents project onto their children through a gooey sense of nostalgia. I mean you only got to look at the difference between Billie and Magda to see that."

"My people were not so strict either, but there are roles men and women differ on. A woman can't plant a seed, but the man can't germinate and grow it. These are part of the knowledge and the rituals and why I can't teach Addie."

"Well Liza was considering having another kid at some point in the future, so maybe she'll have a girl." I suggested.

"Then Mama and I can teach her." Olwen said with a smile.

"Yeah." I agreed. "But what about Kyelax?"

"She will learn in time, but she is too young yet to know of all the complexities." She explained.

"What age will she be when you begin to teach her?"

"Four I think will be a good age to start on the basics, but the legends I tell her already, after all I was a famed story teller by my sixth winter."

"What was it like having stories told to you with the whole town around the fire?" I wondered.

"I think next weekend we go to house. Not next weekend because they run on Saturday, the weekend next when they run on Sunday. We go stay in my house for the Saturday night and we live as we would have done as a family in my day." Olwen suggested.

"That sounds wonderful." I said. "I know Mags will love it."

"Then this we will do. Our men have no choice but agree." Olwen said with a grin.

"Sisters together." I said, holding out my fist.

Olwen frowned for a moment before nodding her head with a smile. She put her fist against mine and I couldn't help notice how it looked much more like a capable weapon of destruction than my own little ball of dough.

"Sisters." She said.

I smiled as I pulled my hand away and put it back by my cup.

"So you're getting on with the Internet?" I asked.

"Yes." She replied.

"And how's your typing coming on?"

"It is good I think. Will you look over it?"

"If you want me to." I said and I moved around the table to look at the screen of the laptop. "Where's your work?"

Olwen moved the cursor about and brought up her typing. It was pretty good from what I could see.

"Can you find the letters now?" I asked.

"More or less." She said with a shrug.

"Then I think you're done training, why don't you try writing something?" I suggested.

"What would I write?" She wondered.

"One of the legends from your tribe." I proposed.

"I will write the last tale I ever told my people." She said with a nod.

"Sounds like a good place to start. I'll look over it for you if you like and then post it on Fiction Press. People will read it for you and tell you what they think about it."

"They will really do that?" Olwen asked in wonder.

"Yes, it is original after all, but if we could find a way to work it as an extension, or just your vision of an existing fiction then we could post it on fanfic, you might get more reviewers that way. I'll show you." I said as I logged on and entered my old persona that I updated from time to time just to make sure my past stories remained there, though no one would know that IngridIceFloeWolf was actually Grace Pearson, author of Darktide. I'd even posted a bit of my own Darktide fanfic just to see what response I got.

"I see that people say about your writing. Most are kind some not so." Olwen observed.

"Well you gotta expect that when you put your work out there, but most people are kind." I conceded.

"Then perhaps I would like to write on this. In fact I have story in my mind that could be in your Darktide world, am I allowed to use it?"

"Of course." I agreed.

"Then I will begin." Olwen announced.

"And I'll set up my new laptop." I stated.

"Are you sure to gift me this machine? I know they cost much money." Olwen said.

"It's a gift, and I needed the upgrade anyway. Yeah that laptop has a lot of life left in it and is perfectly fine for what you want to do, but I need something a little more up to date. You actually helped me in that accepting my old laptop you gave me the perfect excuse to get my new one."

"Then we are even?"

"Yes." I agreed.

Olwen smiled.

"We can talk to each other too with the writing?" She asked.

"I'll have to set up the laptop first, but once I have, then yes, we'll be able to do that." I confirmed.

"Good." Olwen said with a smile,

"It'll take a while though I have to install and download stuff."

"Then I will start on writing."

I nodded and then began setting up my new laptop, hoping it would carry me through the night until Tony came home.

* * *

**Tony**

I was in a good mood as I entered the house, I could feel the serge through me as soon as I looked at Grace. She rose from the table and even though I knew Olwen was getting up to meet Hunter who was coming in behind me, I didn't even notice as I took hold of Grace's hand and led her down the little corridor to our room.

_God I want you so much, but I also need to tell you about what happened when I was running_. I thought toward her as I locked our door.

_Well why don't we get into the lovemaking and we'll talk in the afterglow?_ Grace asked as she put her hand to my cheek and guided my lips down to hers.

_Sounds like a good plan to me._ I said as I kissed her and moved my hand down to pull up her t-shirt.

Grace pushed me away and I stumbled back as she pulled off her t-shirt herself and stripped down quickly. I pulled off my shorts as Grace rushed at me and leapt into my arms kissing at my face and only landing one on my lips every couple of shots. But I didn't care as I pulled her legs up around me and started kissing at her neck. I began to caress her lightly underneath, the wetness coming so quickly as she gasped and grazed her teeth against my skin.

I growled as I felt the arousal surge through me and I had her in both my arms, her legs around my hips and ready.

"You want a baby now?" She whispered.

And I actually swore before edging toward the bedside cabinet drawer. I pulled it open and Grace leaned down to pull out a condom before putting it on me. I couldn't help but wonder why we couldn't redevelop the contraceptive pill for the dhampir anatomy for a moment, but then my mind wasn't for thinking for a good long while as I stood in the middle of the room moving with Grace until we both tried not to let out our cries of pleasure, but it was there in her mind even as she bit her lip to stop it.

I fell down onto the bed and Grace fell against me. As we both tried to get our breaths back she curled into my side and her mind buzzed a little as she snoozed and I joined her in snooze-ville for a while. I could tell her about Mom and Dad and Billie a little later, but if my Grace was snoozing I'd let her nap for a while, she was looking forward to Mags' big day and I'd hate for her to miss out on any of it because she'd been up all night waiting for me.

It was seven when I roused Grace so we could be up for Mags.

"Another amazing homecoming." I said as I kissed her forehead and I felt her cheeks move as she smiled. "So you ready for our daughter to head off to school?"

"That's today?" Grace said in alarm. "Oh god, what if she's not ready?"

"Of course she is." I said. "And she got Boo to help her through. They're good enough friends."

"I hope so." Grace said, not looking convinced.

"Grace, we got to let her go into the world and school is the start of that process." I said softly as ran my fingers gently up and down her arm.

"But she's barely even two." Grace sobbed.

"Yeah, but she gets to experience school before I ever could." I stated.

"Would you have liked to experience it sooner?"

"Like I told you before, I didn't even want to experience it at all, I went to school because Liza wanted to. But if I'd wanted to go to school a head start would have been nice. And Mags does want to go to school so why hold her back?"

"I just wish…"

_That we had her as a baby for longer?_ I asked silently.

Grace nodded.

_But what if she was like Addie? We'd only have our little girl for a handful of decades. Isn't it better that we have her for eternity but with a short childhood than to have her with a long childhood but she dies on us?_ I reasoned.

_Well couldn't we change her when she got older?_ Grace asked.

_What if she didn't want to change? Or by a cruel twist of genetics venom was poisonous to her but she didn't phase? What then?_ I replied.

_I know you're right but I don't want my baby to grow up so soon._ She said sadly.

_Don't worry my Grace, Mags' is still our baby, she will be forever and always. You think I'm an adult right? But you've seen my family still treat me like a kid?_ I observed.

_I guess_. She conceded.

_Then what is there to worry about?_ I asked.

_That our Magda will be hooked up before we know it and what can I be then?_ Grace answered.

_A grandmother._ I replied.

_Seriously Tony, I will kick your ass if you try to pull that joke again._ Grace growled.

_Sorry_. I said.

_I don't want her to grow up_. She said, sad again.

_But she has to sometime_. I repeated.

_I want another baby to cradle and hug to my chest and comfort and hold._ She said, as she sat up so she could look at my face.

I sat up and took her hand.

_We'll have another baby. One every year if that's what you want._ I stated. _Whatever it takes to make you happy my Grace I will give it to you._

_Well I don't want a kid every year, that's just stupid_. She said, rolling her eyes. _But I want more kids. When can we have another kid?_

_As soon as Hunter and Olwen move out, but right now would be a little difficult._

_Yeah_. Grace agreed as she pushed me back and lay against me._ But as soon as they're gone?_

_As soon as they're gone._ I promised._ But it's getting late and we really should be up ready for Mags' first day._ I added and slapped her ass.

_Try that again Anthony Black and you won't have sex for a month_. She warned playfully.

_That means you won't either._ I pointed out.

_I got my ways_. Grace said with a grin._ Might be battery operated but it would see me through._

_Then I'm sorry, I'll behave_. I said as I looked at her through my eyelashes.

_Not too much I hope, we could explore things, but when we're alone and not near Mags_. She stated.

_Agreed_. I said and sat up, Grace sitting beside me. _So? Shall we shower together?_

_Yeah_. Grace said. _We can behave._

We did behave, at least there wasn't more than kissing and a little genius cleaning techniques, but otherwise it was a proper clean shower.

We were dressed by the time Mags woke up and while Grace prepared breakfast I made sure Mags showered and dressed in the clothes Grace had picked out for her. Even though Hunter had the day off and didn't need to be up he did get up with Olwen and they took pics of our little family to record Mags' first day before we settled down for breakfast while Olwen and Hunter went back to bed to catch some sleep before Kyelax woke up.

At half eight we left the house. Really I could have taken Mags to school, it was on my way to work and the timing was just right, but I could understand why Grace would want to be there on Mags' first day. So we walked together, Mags between us, each of us holding her hand.

"What is school like?" She asked.

"You make friends easily, you'll have fun." Grace said.

"Friends makes school fun?" She asked.

"Yeah." I agreed. "The right friends."

"What's the right friends?"

"The ones who'll accept you for who you are." Grace stated.

"What does that mean?"

"That if a person doesn't like you, don't change for them." I replied.

"Why would someone not like me?" She asked with a frown.

"You know Ritchie?" I said.

Mags nodded.

"He can get funny right?" I continued.

"Yeah."

"Well, there's other people like him in the world, but I know you'll do ok cause you got the confidence of your Aunt Liza and your Aunt Prue." I said firmly. "And these are Res kids, they're the friendliest bunch you could wish for."

"I'm glad. I want to make lots and lots and lots of friends. Is this the school?"

"Yes." Grace confirmed. "We have to go and find Principle Pikehunter."

Anya was waiting for us in her office with Tina who was the teacher for the dhampir kids on the Res. She welcomed Mags with a hug and then took her hand before leading us to the little room she had to use to teach these fast aging kids before they could be successfully integrated into the normal school society. Mags went off happily with Tina while Grace sat beside me, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

"Would you like a moment Grace?" Anya asked kindly.

"No. I should go, the longer I stay here the worse I'll be." She said.

"I understand." Any replied. "How about you come at lunch time to see how Magda is getting on since this is her first day she may leave if she doesn't feel up to afternoon lessons."

"Thank you." Grace said. "We'll be going now."

We left the school and walked down the little path to the main road that ran through the Res.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" I offered.

"You got to get to work and I think I'll go walk on the beach a while anyway."

"Ok. Just no on the coastal path." I joked and kissed her forehead.

"Not without supervision." She replied and hugged me for a long moment before heading down to First Beach while I headed up the path that led to the factory.

"Hey boss wait up." Q called and I slowed enough for him to catch up.

"Hey Q." I said. "You look tired."

"Night shift remember." He said with a yawn.

"Yeah. I ran it with you." I replied.

"Yeah." He said, giving me a curious look. "How are you so awake this morning?"

"I got in a little snoozing with Grace when I got back." I said with a shrug.

"Just snoozing? Really?" He said with a grin.

"There was snoozing." I said tactfully.

"So nothing else?" He fished.

"A gentleman never tells." I said, adopting a prim voice Liza would be proud of.

"Aw come on Cuz, you got to give me deets, cause until Tracey is a woman it's blue balls central for me." He complained.

"I can't tell you intimate details about Grace. She's my wife not some sleazy one night hook up." I snapped.

"So it's not all that good then." He tried for a different tact.

"Not gonna work Cuz, you won't anger me into giving you details." I said calmly. "I don't need your approval, it's only Grace's opinion I care about when it comes to our time together."

"You're no fun." Q grouched as we entered the factory.

"Q, you're like twenty five, aren't you a little old to be acting like a stroppy frat boy?" I asked.

He shrugged and headed to his station. I went to my station and continued on with my work. I went to eat lunch in the staff canteen again.

"So tell me Cuz, is it like they say, that running patrol is the best aphrodisiac?" Q asked, as if he'd been waiting for the perfect moment to question me.

"What do you think?" I said and left it at that.

"Aphrodisiac?" Jackie crowed. "You swallow a dictionary Cuz?"

"Well I was gonna ask, does it make you uber horny, but Tony is a gentleman." Q retorted.

I rolled my eyes and didn't bite, I wouldn't be angered into saying anything about Grace. I was very close to it though, just to be smug, but I thought I should ask Grace first, just to be sure she was ok with it, if she was, well then Q might just start to wish he hadn't. For now I pulled on my best stern Sam face, as Mom and her friends used to say, and kept a stoic silence while Q bickered with his cousins.

By the end of the day I was happy with the progress of my chair, but felt a rush of worry when Medium Quil called me into his office.

"Don't worry, I just want to say I'm impressed. I did wonder about the quality and inspected your work yesterday. It's real good and I'm surprised you haven't finished today. The others tell you to slow down a little so you don't make them look bad?"

I wasn't sure how to answer him.

"Don't worry, I heard them Saturday lunchtime." He said with a wave of his hand. "I don't care what pace you work at as long as you keep up the quality. Anyway, Old Quil is crowing that he was right about you and once the chair is finished you can start on your first order."

"What's that?" I asked.

"A six chair and table set for one of our out-of-state clients. I'll give you more details once it's time for you to make it." He replied.

"Ok."

"Well I guess you should get going now, it's your girl's first day of school right? I'm sure she got lots of stories for her dad." Medium Quil said with a smile.

"I hope so." I replied and got to my feet.

I left the office and grabbed my bag before heading for the door. Q was waiting just outside for me.

"What did the old man want?" He asked.

"Just confirming I got a job." I replied.

"Like you were really on trial, you've always been good at woodwork." He said with a shrug.

"I know, but it's still no guarantee." I replied.

"Daddy, Daddy I had the most wonderful day at school." Magda called happily as she ran up the path to me, Grace walking behind her.

"You did Mags?" I asked as I lifted her into my arms.

"Yes Daddy, I got to write and I drew a picture for Mommy and in the afternoon we got to sing. Oh hi Young Quil, did you have a nice day in work?"

"Oh, yeah." Q said, taken aback a little by Mags' stream of words like most people who met her for the first time.

"You're a wolf too right? Do you like running as a wolf?"

"Magda Anna, stop bugging Quil, he has to get home." Grace chastised. "And so do we."

"Yeah." Magda said and I put her down on the floor. "Can we have our food all outside again tonight?" She asked as she took my hand and Grace's hand and walked between us.

"It's gonna rain heavy in a while." I said.

"How can be sure?" She asked.

"You can smell it." Q answered before me.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Rain has a smell?" Magda asked with a frown.

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"Ok." She said. "I'll have to tell Ms Falgo tomorrow."

"See you." Q said as he headed toward his house.

We walked back to our house with Magda telling us about her day. She had something she wanted to look up when we got home, it wasn't homework, she just wanted to find out more about a story Tina had told her in school. She said she wanted to tell it to Keelie later. Olwen thought it was wonderful that Mags wanted to pass on stories to her cousin, she said Magda had the makings of a storyteller and it was how it should be.

We had dinner in the kitchen because it did start to rain too heavy to sit outside. Once the kids were in bed the four of us sat down to talk, me and Hunter telling our wives about the previous night running. It was a nice evening and I hoped that it would be like this for the rest of the time Hunter and Olwen were here. Yeah, this was all working out, I liked living on the Res. This was my home, well it would be better if Liza could be here too, but otherwise this was home.

* * *

**Thank you for reading**

**Please review**

**Gemma x**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer**

**This chapter is dedicated to Noble, Fadewind, M-Bianca94, Alphabloodwolf, Cara Gracious, Patricia, Lsb123, and BellaNessieCullen**

**Sorry this is so late; I've had a busy few weeks with birthdays and then a wicked bad cold that drained me when combined with early work mornings. Feeling better now so hopefully it won't be so long before I post the next chapter, which will be one for RPW, I want to try and synch the times in both stories, or at least get past the point where it won't seem weird that Liza wouldn't mention certain stuff.**

* * *

**Tony**

I'd been on the Res a month when Tina called me and Hunter for an Alphas' meeting. I would have preferred snuggling down with Grace for an hour or two before I had to get up for work, but Hunter said Tina had made it sound important.

She was waiting for us in the Den when we arrived, she'd been pacing the floor but now she slunk down into her chair and hurried us along with a gesture.

"What's up Teen?" Hunter asked as he dropped into his own chair.

"I've already made up my mind about this so don't think you can change it, just thought I'd warn you it's coming is all." She said, directing it mostly toward Hunter, but I guess he was more likely to try to talk her out of anything.

"What you got planned this time?" Hunter asked warily as I sat down on one of the floor cushions so I could face them both.

"Well I been thinking that Tony more than knows the ropes, but we still got three Alphas for the time being, well I never liked being an only child and I do want Boo to have a little brother or sister, but getting pregnant puts me out of commission for the duration. We got three alphas though, but only rotating as two packs." She began.

"You want to have another baby and you want to have one now while I'm still here and Tony can run your pack for two months while you're preggers." Hunter said.

"Exactly." Tina said with a nod.

"What d'ya say kid? Think you can handle Tina's wild bunch?" Hunter prompted me.

"My wild bunch?" Tina exclaimed, offended. "Hunter Black you know my pack is much more disciplined than your X-Men rejects."

"I'll tell them you said that." Hunter teased.

Tina shrugged.

"So you think you can do it Tony? If so, well you might as well have tomorrow night off and start fresh on Monday."

"I don't even get a say in when I let my nephew go?" Hunter demanded.

"Like you own him." Tina retorted.

"I guess the sooner we start the better." I said, not adding that the sooner Tina had her baby and got back to running then Hunter would be able to move on and Grace and me could get on with making more babies.

I didn't need to say that, alpha meeting and all, they read everything.

"Great, I'm subject to both your biological clocks." Hunter grumbled. "Fine. Whatever. It is Tina's pack after all so go ahead, go and run with them and whatever and I'll just stay faithfully here until you no longer need me and throw me away like trash."

"You been at the melodrama pills again?" Tina asked.

"Why? You missing some?" Hunter snapped.

"Chill Cuz, you're the one who wants to go travelling and this way you'll get to go sooner cause at least we know how Tony does running on his own before it has to be for real." Tina coaxed.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"Well I sure hope you know what you're doing." Hunter said, folding his arms.

"I'm learning, but that's how you get to know." I said. "Now is this meeting over? Cause Grace is probably wondering where I am."

"I remember how it was after I first imprinted." Tina mused.

"That rush is hard to suppress." Hunter added.

"Yeah, laugh at the new guy, but can you blame me for enjoying it?" I murmured.

"Course not kid." Hunter said as he got to his feet with a stretch, "And just like you I got someone warm to snuggle up to for what's left of the night."

"I'll come call on you Monday." Tina said and clapped me on the shoulder.

I nodded before I went into the house where Grace was waiting for me, pretending to still be writing, but I knew she'd been ready for a while. I didn't waste any time whisking her to our room where we made great use of all the energies that seemed to build in me when I was running.

Afterwards I told her about Tina's plan.

_Well I guess there's no harm in waiting a little longer._ Grace said.

_No._ I agreed.

_Although at this rate it will be well into next year before we can get down to business._ Grace added.

_I don't. I think we're a little closer to Hunter moving on now._ I said. _Anyway, there's two whole days where I don't have to run, so I was thinking that maybe after work today we could head out hunting and then visit Tregarran for the weekend. I know Mags would love to visit Zeke a while._

_Sounds wonderful. _Grace said. _Although we'll still have to get back here Sunday night because you have work the next day and Magda has school._

_I know. But I don't have to get back in time to run, so there's a plus side._

_Yeah._ Grace said with a smile. _I can spend a little more time with Prue._

_Exactly._ I replied.

_I'm glad Tina's decided to have a baby then._ Grace said and kissed me. _I just hope she gets down to it soon._

_Well I can't exactly ask her about that. It's a little, you know, personal._ I replied.

_I'm sure she'll be getting down to it as soon as possible._ Grace mused. _Well enough lying around, you need to get to work so you can put in your final hours for this week and then we can get on the road._

_I would take a sick day, but I don't think the boss would buy that._ I grouched, sometimes a super immune system had its downsides.

_No. _Grace agreed. _I'll pack everything ready and Mags and I'll come meet you at lunchtime._

_Sounds like a great plan._ I said and kissed her before I got up to shower.

I ate breakfast with Grace then kissed her cheek before heading to work, wishing the morning away until I could spend time with my girls.

* * *

**Grace**

I went to shower once Tony set out for work and then I phoned Tregarran. It was early, but Tobias was usually up by seven every morning, or at least awake. He would appreciate the heads up for numbers at dinner.

"Hello?" Tobias answered since I'd dialled through on the landline and they didn't have caller ID.

"Good morning Tobias." I replied.

"Good morning Grace, and to what do I owe the pleasure of this call?" He said, his voice becoming one percent warmer now he knew he was speaking to a family member.

"Well Tony's been given two nights off from running so we thought we'd pay you a visit this weekend if you're not too busy." I explained, because even though we had been going once a fortnight we'd decided to make it once a month since it was always a rush back on a Sunday for Tony to get back for running, this was meant to be the start of the new arrangement.

"Oh no. Billie has plans in town with her friends; therefore Essie and I are practically house bound for the weekend. One could almost declare us grounded." Tobias said with a laugh and I laughed along, it was hard not to. "Essie will be delighted to have the three of you here and to be able to spoil Magda."

"I know Magda will love spending time with her Grandma Essie." I replied. "And her Grandpa Tobias of course."

"Of course. We look forward to your arrival." Tobias said in his impeccable manner. "Will you be here in time for lunch?"

"Tony got work this morning and then we're going for a quick hunt on the way, but we should arrive some time this afternoon, definitely in time for dinner." I assured him.

"Then we shall see you this evening." He said, rounding up the call.

"Yes. See you later. Bye." I replied.

"Goodbye Grace." Tobias said and hung up.

I hung up the phone and went to get Magda out of bed. Olwen, Hunter and Keelie were having breakfast in the kitchen. I called 'good morning' through the door before I went to Magda's room and knocked on the door before opening it. She was curled up in the middle of the bed, the blanket pulled tightly around her.

"Magda." I said softly, she gave a little grunt but otherwise didn't respond. "Come on Mags, it's time to get up." I said as I started to pull the blankets from around her, they were twisted and I didn't think I'd ever get to her. "Honestly, I don't know how you manage to twist them around you in this way."

"Momma why do I have to get up so early?" She asked grumpily, still curled up in her ball.

"Magda Anna Black, it's nine o'clock, that's not early. Haven't you got homework to do for Ms Falgo?" I said firmly.

"I got all weekend. I can do it tomorrow." She grumbled.

"Then I guess you can stay here to do it then." I said as I went to leave the room. "But me and Daddy are going hunting and then on to Grandma Essie's, but if you want to stay in bed all day and do your homework tomorrow I'm sure your Auntie Olwen won't mind looking after you."

"What?" Magda gasped as she sat up, Mr Tiggles falling to the floor in her haste. "But we're not going there this weekend."

"Well things have changed and we are going there, so if you want to come then you'll have to do your homework this morning." I replied.

"Can't I do it tomorrow with Auntie Billie? She's so smart I'm sure she'll help me." Magda pleaded.

"Well, I don't know." I said, biting my lip because I didn't want to agree to it if Billie was busy.

"Please!" Magda said, grabbing around me. "I can help you pack everything ready."

"Well as long as you do your homework tomorrow you can help me pack." I said. "But for that you need to get up, have breakfast and shower."

"Ok." Magda said as she let me go.

"What do you want for breakfast?" I asked.

"Toast and bacon?" She ventured.

"If that's what you want." I said, holding out my arms and Magda jumped into them and I held her on my hip. In reality she was getting a bit big for this now, but she was still my baby.

I carried her to the kitchen and set her down on the linoleum where she went to sit at the table with Hunter, Olwen and Keelie.

"Morning Keelie, you eating up your eggs?" She asked.

"Yes." Keelie replied happily before shoving a fistful in her mouth.

"You are supposed to use the fork now Kyelax." Olwen said. "It is needed in the modern times."

Keelie grudgingly picked up her fork and used it to scoop up some more eggs.

"That's how big girls eat." Magda said firmly, even though she was actually several months younger than Keelie.

I cooked up some bacon and toast for Magda while she chatted to Hunter, Olwen and Keelie.

"You're off this weekend?" Hunter asked as I put Magda's plate in front of her and sat down with a cup of coffee.

"Yeah, since Tony has two nights of not running and he doesn't have to work tomorrow we're going to drop by Tregarran." I explained.

"How has Tony two nights of not running?" Olwen asked.

"Oh, Tina wants him to run with her a while." Hunter replied, telling the truth but not being one hundred percent honest and I tried to hold my face still because I felt like frowning at him.

"Grace, you think my Hunter lies?" Olwen asked.

"I…" I didn't know what to say.

"You are my friend and you will not cause trouble more than there will be when I find out later." She stated.

"I can't say in front of the children." I whispered.

"Then come on." Olwen said, standing up and she took my hand and pulled me to my feet and outside. "What is Hunter not telling me?"

"Tina is going to try for another baby, that's why she wants Tony to run with her." I stated, since there was no point in lying now. "She figured that since there's three alphas here at the moment she can take the time out of being able to phase to have a little sib for Timmy."

"Oh Hunter, why be so secretive? Am I so insecure that I will go 'Tina is having a baby now we must have one too'? I know it is better to wait until we are away from the Res now he's explained to me. Oh I don't know what I should do with him now, should I punish him?" She asked and it took a second of her looking at me expectantly for me to realise it wasn't rhetorical.

"Do you think you should?" I asked.

"I think not, but make him think I will punish him and trick him today." Olwen said with a grin.

"Well, it's your relationship." I said with a shrug. "I got to make sure Mags eats all her breakfast and has a shower. We got a long day ahead of us."

"Of course." Olwen replied and we went back into the house.

There was a lot of tension in the house, it was so obvious Olwen wanted to say something to Hunter and I didn't want to spend the morning treading on eggshells. I checked the time, I could take the girls for a half hour walk before Mags and me would really need to pack for the weekend. Even before Magda had her shower.

"Hey girls, you want to stroll down to First Beach and back?" I asked.

"Oh yes Mommy, that would be fun." Magda said immediately.

"How about you Keelie?" I asked.

Keelie frowned at me.

"Go for walk?" I asked.

Keelie grinned.

"Yes." She said with a giggle.

I got them both into their raincoats and gumboots over the top of their pyjamas before I led them down to First Beach. It was a little rainy to be doing anything, even on a pebble beach. So I took them to the store instead where Jade was tending the counter having taken over the everyday running of the store from her mother Kim when it was suggested that at the age of ninety she should think about enjoying her retirement.

"Magda, why don't you choose some snacks for the road?" I suggested. "Keelie, you want some candy?"

"What can I choose?" Magda asked.

"Anything within reason." I replied.

"Cool." Magda observed before she browsed the shop for goodies.

"What would you like Keelie?" I asked.

She looked up at me with her green eyes for a very long moment before shyly approaching a stand that contained bagged candies and inspecting each packet by poking them.

"You babysitting today?" Jade asked.

"No." I replied.

"We're travelling to Tregarran once Tony finishes work so I thought I'd bring Magda out for some fresh air. Keelie's a good kid so I didn't see any harm in bringing her along too." I explained.

"Yeah, she's a good kid, don't talk much though." She said with a frown.

"She understands everything." Magda said firmly as she held up a bag of potato chips for me to give the go-ahead and I nodded. "She's just shy to talk in front of adults because they hardly understand her."

"Really?" Jade asked amused. Clearly humouring Magda but assuming she was making it up.

"Oh yes. And I'm not making it up. We talk all the time with our minds because she's so shy." Magda said with a shrug. "Can I have the cherry cola taffy too Mommy?"

"Yeah, but then you're not allowed soda, just bottled water to drink." I informed her.

"Ok." Magda said with a pout but went to choose a bottle of water anyway.

I went to check how Keelie was getting along with her candy choice.

"I'm telepathic like my Daddy." Magda called across the shop and Jade blinked in shock. "You were thinking how could I know and wondering if I could actually read minds, and yes I can. Keelie can't, but I can mind talk to her so we can communicate that way."

"How can she be that telepathic so young?" She asked me. "Hunter couldn't read anything at her age."

"That's because she's like Tony, who was telepathic even before he was born." I stated.

"How did anyone know that?" She asked with a frown.

"You've met Essie?" I inquired.

Jade nodded.

"And you still need to ask that?"

"Oh yeah." Jade said, biting her lip.

"These are what I want." Magda said, placing the potato chips, taffy and bottle of water on the counter.

"Have you decided Keelie?" I asked.

Keelie nodded and held up a bar of chocolate. I placed it on the counter for her and Jade rang in our purchases. I paid then led the girls back to the house strolling as slowly as possible to give Hunter and Olwen chance to speak.

"Why are people scared of me?" Magda asked.

"What do you mean?" I said, replying with my own question because I wasn't one hundred percent certain what she was referring to.

"Well Jade, she knows all about telepaths and stuff, but she found me scary cause I'm so little and a telepath." Magda said sadly.

"I think it has more to do with the fact that because you're so young you haven't got proper control over your powers and might read something she doesn't want you to know." I stated.

"Like what?" She demanded.

"Everybody has secrets Magda-Anna. Things that you don't want other people to find out. Things so secret you only want to reveal them if you choose to do so. Having someone be able to look into your mind and know your thoughts can feel intrusive and make you worry that they might just read your secrets." I explained as best I could without making Magda feel like she was a problem.

"Well you could just tell her that Daddy has me under constant protection so I don't accidentally read too deeply into people's minds, just surface stuff that they'll probably say anyway." Magda said with a shrug.

"He has?" I asked in surprise, because I knew Tony put a shield around her from time to time, but I didn't realise he did it constantly.

"Only since we came here because there's so many more minds." Magda assured me. "I don't think I'm supposed to know he's doing it, but I can feel the block when I hit it. It's like that time when we were at the big white house and I thought there wasn't any glass but there was glass and I ran into it. Well I could see the garden beyond but I couldn't get to it. That's what it's like when I run into Daddy's shield. I can see things beyond, but I can't actually get to them to read them."

"Does it hurt?" I asked with concern although I was certain Tony wouldn't do anything that would hurt our daughter.

"No. It's just annoying." She said, screwing up her nose. "Like when Uncle Emmett wolf-naps Mr Tiggles and holds him too high for me to get and then goes to give it back to me, then pulls him away again."

"As long as it doesn't hurt you." I replied, and though I was certain that Tony would have stopped if it did hurt, I still had to talk to him about it later because he hadn't said anything to me about it.

"Is he in trouble?" Magda asked sadly.

"Not really, but we do need to talk." I assured her.

"Ok."

We'd arrived back at the house by this point and the girls ran up the ramp, Magda keeping to a slow human pace to help Keelie up the slippery ramp. I used the steps at the side and reached the top the same time as them.

There was definitely less tension when we got back. Keelie went to show Olwen her chocolate bar while I mad Magda have her shower and dress. After that we went to pack our bags. Not that we needed to pack much for over the weekend, but it was still nice to have a few changes of clothes, especially after hunting. As usual I was excited by the thought of hunting and as soon as it was late enough I bundled Magda into my car and went to meet Tony from work.

* * *

**Tony**

I don't know, the morning seemed to drag. Especially since I had a somewhere to go. Especially since I only had to finish up a bit of assembly because everything else was already done. It made the morning seem even longer.

Finally it was ten to twelve and I could down tools to make sure my workstation was in order ready for Monday. I was out the door at twelve, Q hot on my heels.

"Where's the fire?" He asked.

"There's no fire, I'm just heading out for the weekend and don't want to miss a second of it." I replied.

"For the whole weekend?" He asked.

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"But we're running tomorrow night." He observed.

"You're running tomorrow night." I corrected.

"Your uncle letting you off when he won't let the rest of us off." Q scoffed.

"You run once for every three times I run." I countered. "Anyway, it's because I'm gonna be shadowing Tina's pack for a while so I can get a feel for running with them too. Well there's Grace better go, don't want to keep Mags waiting." I said quickly to dodge all the questions that suddenly popped in his head.

I darted over to Grace's car and jumped in, not bothering to adjust the seat even though it meant my legs would be cramped by the end of the journey. I didn't want to give Q the chance to question me.

Grace looked at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Just drive." I said as I slammed the belt into place.

"Ok." Grace replied, pulling away from the curb. _What's the rush?_

_I told Q I wouldn't be running with him tomorrow but I'm not sure what I'm allowed to tell the others yet. Are they allowed to know about Tina's plans? I didn't want to hang around and have Q question me._ I explained.

_I see. Well I'll stop at that little lay by beyond the border so you can adjust the seat_. Grace replied.

_Thanks._ I said with feeling cause my legs were already starting to fall asleep.

"We're already where we're going hunting?" Mags asked when Grace pulled over.

"No. Daddy's legs are going to sleep and he needs to adjust his seat." Grace replied as I jumped out and pushed the front seat as far back as it would go before getting back in with a relieved sigh.

"Much better." I said.

"But you're awake." Mags said.

"What?" I asked, lost for a moment.

"Mommy said your legs were asleep, but how can they sleep when you're awake?"

"It's just an expression." I explained. "Know when you've been sitting in the same position for a very long time and your legs start to go numb?"

"Yeah." She agreed.

"That's all it means." I stated.

"Oh right. It's hard to walk for a while afterwards. I guess you wouldn't want your legs to fall asleep when you have to run. It would be really, really hard to hunt."

"Yep." I agreed.

Magda hummed thoughtfully as she looked out of the window.

"Did you see that rabbit Mr Tiggles." She said suddenly as she pointed out the window.

I heard the reply in her mind as she imagined Mr Tiggles speaking to her through telepathy. She heard other people's minds in her own head so it wasn't so easy for her to separate what were real voices and what were ones she imagined. I'd had the same problem as a kid, although I did have Liza to put me right before I got to the point Mags had with Mr Tiggles. I'd discussed it with Grace, but she didn't see any problems with it, she'd had an imaginary friend herself when she was a kid and it never did her any harm. So I'd let Mags get on with it and hope she'd grow out of it, but if not, well I guess Mal could always analyse her.

We took a trail that was halfway between La Push and Tregarran to go hunting. Although Magda could keep up with us I still gave her a piggyback to the spot where we'd be hunting. It was elk; it made a change from the usual smaller deer we hunted.

We found a good spot downwind to sit and wait for a few minuets while we watched the movement of the elk, to pick out our targets, the females that weren't carrying calves. Then I moved out first, circling the herd to push them back toward Grace and Magda. Grace circled round to hem them in against a nearby cliff and make it all the easier for Magda to take one down herself.

I surged forward and the elk moved too, the pregnant ones banded together for safety, it made it easier for me to try and break three of the older females away from the herd. I signalled my new plan to Grace and she moved to cut them off further until there were only three clustered up against the cliff and climbing over each other to try and escape.

Magda shot out from her hiding place and latched onto the elk nearest her. Me and Grace moved in at the same moment to take down ours before they decided to kick out and possibly hit Mags.

The other elk had already cleared out when we stood up from our feeding. We didn't go after them because we'd hunted the previous weekend and Mags was more interested in getting to Tregarran so she could see Mom and Dad and Billie, not to mention the chance to run over to Northern Heights to visit Zeke. We headed back to the car and drove on to Tregarran; we were there by four in the afternoon.

Mags had already located Mom up in the rec room and she went as fast as she could without actually running and annoying Dad as soon as we were parked in the garage. Me and Grace strolled up behind her and reached the rec room in time to find her jumping up onto the sofa next to Mom and holding out the sheet of paper she'd been carrying.

"I got a picture for you Grandma." She said as she handed it over.

"Thanks Mags." Mom said as she hugged and kissed Mags on the forehead before taking the picture to look at. "Is that me? You're getting better all the time."

"I want to be as good as Zeke." Mags said with a nod.

Zeke was just coming out of the poolroom with Billie and he froze at the sound of his name, blushing as he put his head down. The kid could not take a compliment. He wanted to get out of the room quickly to avoid anymore praise, but Magda had already sensed him.

"Hey Zeke! I can't believe you're here, but I got a picture for you too. And you as well Auntie Billie." Magda said happily as she climbed over the back of the sofa to get to them. "But they're in my bag, I didn't think you'd be here."

"We're here." Billie said. "We knew you were coming today and we've been waiting for you to come swimming with us."

"Really?" Mags asked excitedly.

"Yeah." Billie confirmed. "Isn't that right Z?"

Zeke nodded his head.

"So shall we go get your costume?" Billie prompted.

"Ok." Mags said and she took Billie's hand so they could go down to the garage to get Mags' bag from the car.

Zeke followed them not to be left alone with the adults.

"So how come you switched teams?" Mom asked as Grace and me sat down.

"It's Tina's idea." I said as I told Mom telepathically Tina's plan.

"I guess it makes sense." Mom said. "Course it means I get to see you for longer this weekend. It means you don't have to rush off back home for tomorrow evening."

"Yeah." I agreed.

"And Magda is doubly excited, she's looking forward to spending all day here tomorrow." Grace added. "I think she would have skipped hunting if she had the choice to get here sooner."

"She actually stopped at one elk and didn't complain when we went back to the car." I continued. "You know she never does that."

"I know." Mom said with a chuckle. "We'll have to do something tomorrow, all go out running together maybe."

"That would be great, but I think Grace was hoping to catch up with Prue." I said tactfully so Grace didn't have to say anything.

"She could come too." Mom said with a shrug.

"Really, just to chat." Grace said apologetically.

"Then we'll take Tibbi and the kids out of the way and give you two space to have a proper sister catch up." Mom said with a grin.

"Prue might like that." Grace conceded. "I'll go ring her and ask her."

"I'll go take our bags up." I stated.

"And I'll go see if Tobias needs any help in the kitchen because if I stay here any longer I'll want to swim and I'll feel like I'm crashing the kids' pool party." Mom said as she got to her feet.

"I'm sure they won't think that." I said as I walked down to the basement level with Mom while Grace went into the library to phone Prue.

"Yeah, but still they should have a little space." Mom replied.

"But what about the fact Mags is only two?" I suggested.

"She's more like eight now and with the older kids there she doesn't really need so much supervision. I don't want to stifle them, and she really likes playing with Billie and Zeke, but you know how he gets when we're around. He clams up. But don't worry, I'm keeping my mind on them." Mom assured me.

"Ok." I said.

I broke from Mom as she went into the kitchen and I went on to the garage to get the bags. Mags had already taken hers up to Billie's room so I only had to grab the ones for Grace and me. I carried them up to my old room and stowed them at the bottom of the bed before I went down to the library where Grace was finishing off her call.

"Prue thinks it will be a great idea." She said.

"Then I guess we're taking all the kids out tomorrow." I said, worried a little because at the moment Prue had eight half vamps under her care, although most of them were only foster kids, she'd only adopted Zeke and Moesha so far. Ritchie was still hanging around, but he didn't want to be adopted by Prue. Still meant we'd have eight kids running round, ten when you included Mags and Billie, I hoped Mom realised what she was letting us all into.

"Well we might end up having eight kids ourselves one day." Grace said as she hugged around my waist and leant her head against my chest. "It'll be training for you."

"We can't have eight kids." I said.

"Why not?" She demanded.

"The house on the Res isn't exactly roomy." I replied.

"They'll just have to use bunk beds, even if it means we move into the smallest room of all." She said with a shrug.

"The house will be bursting at the seams." I said with horror.

"But won't it be fun?" She asked with a grin.

"If that's what you want." I said.

"Is it what you want?" Grace asked, leaning back and looking up into my eyes.

"I don't mind, it's whatever you want."

"You have to agree to it too." Grace stated. "As parents we both got fifty-fifty on the decision making."

"Yeah, but the pre-parent decision making should be up to you. You are the one who has to actually have the baby." I explained.

"Well you do have a point there." Grace said, "But as parents all our decisions should be mutual."

"Yeah." I agreed.

"And even if we decide something we should at least share it with the other." Grace continued.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"So how come you didn't tell me you were shielding Magda's mind?" She demanded.

"What? I did." I said with a frown.

"You didn't say you were doing it all the time since we moved to the Res."

"It's only until she gets used to there being so many minds around her. It's just like I've always done when we've gone to populated areas." I explained.

"You should have told me." Grace said firmly.

"I was sure I had."

"Well I know now, and I know it doesn't hurt Magda, but I was caught off guard when she brought it up today."

"I'm sorry." I said, hugging Grace.

"Just let me know in future."

"I will." I promised.

"Thank you."

We hugged for a while longer before we went down to see when food would be ready. There was an hour to go; Dad had decided to really go to town since Zeke would be staying for dinner too. We clearly had a wait on our hands so we went to watch TV in the rec room while keeping a secret eye on the kids in the pool.

After dinner we had a calm family evening watching movies before we all headed off to bed. Magda was actually sharing Billie's room with a single bed set up against the wall. Billie didn't mind her sharing and it made Magda feel like they were having a sleepover. It gave me and Grace the night to ourselves and we made the most of it once I had mind shields in place and I told Grace I was shielding us from everyone.

It was a great night and we went to sleep in a happy haze.

* * *

**Grace**

"As much as I love the kids, I still have to say, two hours without them. Bliss." Prue said as she reclined on the sofa.

"You decided to become the vampire super mom." I said with a shrug. "Not that I'm condemning you for it, it's highly commendable."

"Yeah." She said as she lounged back further and put her hands behind her head. "I knew kids could be a handful, but not this bad. It's worth it though, knowing I'm making a difference. After all, with so many rooms here I had to do something." She didn't need to add that it made up for not being able to have her own kids; it was something unspoken between us now.

"How's things been going since I've been on the Res? Is Merial enjoying her freedom?" I asked.

"Yeah. She moved Mr Riley right in, which of course got all the gossips going, but is it really their business?" Prue said with a shrug, she'd never liked Geri Ingles even before we were old enough to be subject to her gossip.

"Geri thinks everything that happens in the Pines is her business." I observed.

"Yeah. Can you imagine what she'd say if she was all up in our business? What would she do if she knew our secret?" Prue mused.

"Can you imagine her as a vampire?" I said with horror.

"Jane would eat her alive." Prue said with a shrug as she tilted her head to look at me upside down. "So how goes it on the Res."

"It's good." I said.

"You found a job yet? Or are you still a lazy-ass author?"

"Still a lazy-ass author." I said with a laugh. "There isn't really many jobs to go around on the Res and I want to wait until Mags is a little older before I look further afield. She goes to school at nine and I doubt there's many places that would let me wait for her to go to school and then commute."

"No." Prue said, and she frowned before she grinned. "But I think there's another reason you want to linger in the mornings."

"No." I said firmly, but Prue had a sense for these things and now she was sitting up looking into my eyes. "You've been having fun snuggle times with Tony."

"Snuggles is too tame a word." I spoke into my cup.

"Really?" Prue said, her grin taking on a slight leer. "Care to explain it?"

I looked down into my coffee, then up into her cool blue eyes. Her smile softened and she was my big sister again, the one who took care of me as a kid. If I couldn't confide in her, who could I confide in?

"It's so intense." I said, feeling a wave of that new dimension of passion run through me with an exhilaratingly frightful shiver. "He's an animal when he comes back from running. Tony is usually gentle, sometimes a little too cautious, like he forgets I'm not so breakable anymore. Not that I've ever been not satisfied, he always makes sure I get my enjoyment too. And his gentleness is all well and good, but I always seem to be the one to suggest things that might make it a little different. He's always been so gentle and shy, well until now, when he comes in from a night of running and all his instincts are turbo boosted to a thousand and he's almost devouring me as he brings me quicker than ever to that point where I burn up and melt and tingle all over."

"It's good right, after they've been running." Prue observed.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"I might not have known about all this supernatural stuff at the time, but when I was screwing Hunter there'd be some nights he couldn't see me, but he would have me meet up with him in the morning and he'd be full of this wild exciting energy, something wild and primal that just burned me up. It's good to finally know the reason why."

I nodded.

"I bet it's much more intense since you guys are imprints though." She hazarded.

"Well I wouldn't know what to compare it to, but I guess it is." I said with a shrug.

"You know there's something that's always bugged me, but I've never had the guts to ask you." Prue said a little, and it was not an adjective I ever thought I'd apply to my sister, sheepishly.

"You not having the guts to do something?" I asked doubtfully.

"Ok, well the heart then." She said with a shrug. "But is Tony the only guy you ever slept with?"

"No." I said without care, wondering why she'd find it so hard to ask me that.

"But Tony imprinted on you years ago right? Like when you were seventeen?" She asked.

I nodded.

"I thought it stopped you liking other guys." Prue observed, and I found it interesting that she didn't think I'd had sex before that, but she knew how timid I was back then, Tony really was the first guy I ever spoke to outside of being cajoled into doing homework, or more usually, getting picked on, but that wasn't the issue here, just the evidence Prue needed to know I was still a virgin at seventeen.

"It can stop you seeing other guys." I confirmed. "You don't feel attraction, not the way I feel for Tony, but I had all that pent up tension and I had to get rid of it somehow. There was this guy in college and he was a good friend so I experimented. I guess he was ok, but I just didn't get anything from it. There was just no way he could turn me on never mind take me all the way."

"Oh…god that had to be…" Prue put her hand to my cheek. "God I'm sorry your first time had to be so painful."

"It wasn't so bad." I said, looking down into my coffee again.

Prue shook her head, she disagreed but I didn't want to talk about it anymore.

"So you got any plans for Zeke's birthday?" I asked.

Prue gave me a look, she knew I was changing the subject, but being the best big sister in the world, she let me.

"I was thinking of doing a surprise party, I know he's only seven, but that's important for half vamps right? When they become full adults. So I thought it would be right to do something special for him."

"Aren't you worried he'll think you're trying to get rid of him?" I asked.

"No. Cause he's still got two years left of school. This is like having your eighteenth, it's stepping up a notch to more or less adult, but you still gotta finish school. It's just nice to note a landmark birthday." Prue observed.

"I guess." I said. "Sure, a surprise party would be good, and of course we'll come. Even if Tony's running and I have to bring Mags on my own I know she'll enjoy giving Zeke such a surprise. If she was older I'd swear she had a crush on him."

"I think she just loves her cousin and no more than that." Prue said a little too much on the firm side for my liking. "I know she's two now which puts her around maybe eight, and god knows I was starting to notice the boys at that age, but Mags is like you. She's a little innocent girl and all the love she feels for Zeke is the same as she feels for her dollies. It's just friendship, or maybe family love."

"I guess, although I'd put it more on a par with her love of Mr Tiggles than any of her other toys." I said carefully.

"Then he's her best friend, but you know, with her starting school and everything she might make other friends and he won't be so special." Prue continued in that weird tone.

"She'll never forget her first best friend." I said solemnly.

"But, just best friends." Prue stated. "Nothing else."

I thought for a moment before really studying Prue's reaction.

"Would you have a problem if Mags did have a crush on Zeke?"

"No." Prue replied. "It's just that there could never be anything between them. After all, they're cousins."

"Well, not really." I said. "Not by blood. Zeke is only your adopted son."

"He's my son." Prue growled, and suddenly she was on her feet in a threatening crouch.

"I know he's your son, and I love him as a nephew, but all I'm saying is that if Mags had a crush on Zeke, well, they're not blood." I said, determined not to be intimidated by her, she might be older than me, but I'd been a dhampir longer.

"But you really want your two year old daughter to be dating already?" Prue demanded.

"Well having a crush and actually dating are two different things." I said dismissively. "And you know that I think of Zeke as my nephew, but I got to set that little safety area in my mind in case Mags develops a full blown crush. I didn't mean to…"

"Yeah." Prue agreed sitting back down, knowing I'd never intentionally hurt her. "But you struck a nerve there and…"

"I know." I said and I moved closer to her and leant against her shoulder so she'd put her arm around me, to protect me like she did when we were kids. "And, well not immediately because me and Tony are gonna have another kid as soon as Hunter and Olwen ship out, but…well as soon as we have a boy, or enough girls that Tony is truly outnumbered, well maybe we could talk to Carlisle about…about…"

"About what?" Prue demanded.

"Surrogacy." I whispered.

"No Gracie." Prue said with a sob as she hugged me close. "I don't think it would be the same as having my own. I wouldn't get all the pregnancy feels. It would just be adopting all over again."

"But it would still be your egg and Tibbi's sperm, it would be your kid, a mixture of you both…"

"Well, in a few years, once you got that big brood you seem determined to build up in your pursuit of a boy, well maybe we'll talk again, but right now I'm happy with Zeke and Moesha. They are like my own kids and we always got others flitting through here on their way to other places."

"We'll talk again in a decade." I suggested.

"A decade sounds about right." Prue agreed and kissed the top of my head. "Just don't ever play the blood card again."

"I won't." I promised. "Unless it's to defend Mags."

"I guess it's only right you stick up for your daughter."

I nodded.

"Just wish Ingrid had felt the same about us." She said gravely.

"Do you ever think that maybe you're wrong to judge Mom so harshly given what we know now?" I asked.

"Well maybe adult Prue could cut her a little slack, but what good is that to eight year old Prue having to bath little Gracie and getting her into bed at night cause the rents are away and Mrs Fabregas is in booze heaven again. Adult Prue can look at the good Ingrid was working toward, but where does that leave twelve year old Prue made to feel guilty for dropping the ball and leaving little Gracie scarred for life when she should have been blemish free if only I'd been quick enough…"

"I never blamed you." I said quickly as I moved to pull Prue into my shoulder instead. "I never blamed you."

"I know you never blamed me, but it felt like Mom did. Always, always…" Prue said angrily.

"She should have thanked you if she thought you were to blame." I said firmly.

"Why?"

"Well think about it. If I hadn't been burned then they never would have found out about my heart and I probably would have collapsed one day and ended up as one of those depressing stories in the tabloids, 'Kid 8 drops dead of unexpected heart attack' or whatever."

"It's easy to think of all these things now, but as a kid…" She trailed off wit a sigh.

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

"You were a victim like me, we never got the stable home life we deserved and because of that I ended up the slut of the school and you were the shy geek who wouldn't say boo to her own shadow. Maybe if Ingrid had thought more about our future than the future of people she didn't even know we might not have turned out so…"

"Messed up?" I suggested.

"I wouldn't go quite that far. Maybe a little more well rounded." Prue replied.

"Prue, you were the best big sister I could have asked for." I said firmly.

"Really?" She asked doubtfully.

"Well you're attitude did stink a little when I started high school, with the whole 'we don't know each other' thing. But at home you were my big sister Prue and you brought me up so good, Mrs Fabregas was just…"

"A stupid drunk who shouldn't have been put in charge of kids?" Prue suggested.

"Well yeah." I agreed, since it really was the truth.

"Did Garry ever tell you why we had to put up with her?" She asked.

"No." I replied.

"Can we go corner him and ask him?"

"Well…"

"Are you planning something Gracie? I only ask cause you got your evil planning face going." Prue observed.

"Well Zeke is your son, that makes him Garry's grandson, why not invite Garry to the party?" I suggested.

"It would be an olive branch." Prue mused. "But won't he end up pissed with you if we corner him? What about your career?"

"Grace Pearson will have to die soon, unless I want to end my legend as a hermit who shuns all publicity but provides novels from time to time to much derision. Anyway, I'll no longer be a living meal ticket for Garry unless he takes me on under a different name. Anyway, he's our father, if he wants to know his grandchildren then he has to answer our questions."

"That your long winded way of saying we have the upper hand?" Prue inquired.

"Yeah." I agreed.

"It might work." Prue mused.

"It will work." I said firmly.

"I like your optimism Gracie." Prue said, ruffling my hair.

"Well I am an evil mastermind." I observed.

"Yeah." Prue agreed with a laugh. "I will invite Garry, is his email still the same?"

"Yeah. And his phone number."

"You think I should actually speak to him?" Prue asked with some fear.

"It might give you a better foundation to get him here." I stated.

"He always did prefer the direct approach." Prue conceded. "Ok, I'll phone him tomorrow. When am I more likely to speak to him?"

"I don't know, he usually phones me." I said. "Though I wouldn't call him between one and two, that's his lunch time."

"Ok. Do you think I'll get to actually talk to him, or his sectary?"

"I'll give you the number you're guaranteed to speak to him." I stated.

"Thanks."

"When are you holding the party?" I asked.

"I'll have to check the nearest Saturday to Zeke's birthday, but I'll let you know tomorrow maybe."

"That's fine."

We went on to chat about other things until Tony and Tibbi got back with the kids, then it was time to go. We had to stop by Tregarran to say goodbye before we headed back to the Res. Even if Tony didn't have to run, he still had to go to work the next day, and Mags had school. If it wasn't for this fact we would have stayed longer, but we had a life on the Res now and we had to live it.

* * *

**Tony**

_You ready kid?_ Tina called from outside.

"Guess that's my cue." I said.

"What is?" Grace asked, lifting her head up from my shoulder.

"Tina just called me from outside." I said as I eased Grace gently off my lap and stood. "See you in the morning." I said, leaning back down to kiss her. "And try to get some sleep tonight. Please?"

"I'll try but I can't promise." Grace stated.

_Well if you can't sleep don't come out to the border, I haven't run with this group before so I don't know how they'll react to you._ I warned because Olwen had told her that's what she used to do before Keelie was born.

_I promise I won't come out to the border. I'll work on my novel instead._ She replied.

I knew it was pointless arguing with her over the sleep thing now so I kissed her, said goodnight and headed outside where Tina was waiting for me.

"You ready?" She asked.

"Yeah." I confirmed.

"It's gonna be an intense one tonight, all my team running together, but I thought it would give you chance to get to know the ones you don't know." She explained.

"I guess it's better to get to know them in one go, and if I see how they all run together it lets you take your vacation all the sooner."

"Yeah." Tina agreed. "About that, you think you could hold off telling them just yet?"

"What you gonna tell them about me running with you?" I asked, glad that I hadn't revealed anything to Q the day before.

"It's two months until the scheduled big run but I want you to get to know my crew before then so there's no teething problems on the night."

"Good reasoning." I said.

"Well I did think of it." She said with a wink as we stepped into the trees.

"We'll phase here then run into the meeting point." Tina stated.

"Hunter usually changes at the meeting point." I replied.

"Yeah, well he's all for the communal thing, but I'm more for efficiency. If we phase as soon as we reach the trees then we're all in instant contact and everyone gets clued in quickly."

"That does make more sense." I said and I ducked behind a bush to pull off my shorts and tuck them into the band on my ankle before phasing on the fly.

I merged with Tina who was now in her wolf form and she was laughing at me.

_You don't have to be shy on my account_. She teased.

_I was being a gentleman_. I replied.

_Don't lie to me Tony._ Tina teased as she butted her head against my side_. Come on; race you to the meeting point._

We raced and I was gonna just let her win at first until I realised it was a test and so I run flat out, reaching the meeting point a full minuet ahead of her.

_Wolf pile!_ Two minds cried in unison and suddenly I was pinned to the ground under Ariana and Maria.

I managed to shake them off and pin them down and they giggled at me.

_Terrible twins strike again?_ I asked.

_Right-o boss Tony._ Ariana said. _God it feels weird saying that seeing as I'm older than you and all._

_Only by a month._ I replied as I stepped back and let them get to their feet.

_Can't believe you took us both down._ Maria said as she stood up and shook leaves and pine needles from her black coat.

_Shouldn't mess with Tony Black._ I responded, jogging on the spot. _I'm a super duper alpha._

_Show off more like._ Ariana laughed as she butted me with her head.

_Don't be jealous Arri_. I teased as I butted her back.

_Come on kids, settle down_. Twain said firmly as she came into the clearing.

_Yes Beta._ Marie said.

_Yes Beta._ Ariana added.

_Yes Beta_. I said too, bowing my head.

_You keeping the pups in order Twi?_ Tina asked as she reached the clearing.

_You know I am Alpha._ Twain replied.

_We're a little old to be called pups._ Ariana complained.

_Well you insist on acting like one_. Tina joked. _So who else is here?_

Voices came in from different positions between the village border and the meeting point.

_Everyone's suited Ma'am._ Twain stated.

_Yeah._ Tina said, not correcting Twain's militaristic style she'd gotten used to it._ Meeting place now!_

A minuet later there was barely room in the clearing with twelve giant wolves milling around.

_Line up!_ Twain called.

I didn't exactly know what that meant, but the other wolves lined up and so I stood at the end of the line next to Billy since I knew him more than the little wolf at the end.

_Wolf Black you're out of order!_ Twain snapped.

_Easy Twi, it's his first time and so he doesn't know the order._ Tina said.

_Shouldn't even be running with us._ One of the girls toward the middle of the ranks thought and it took a moment for me to recognise Opal Call, though I had no idea why she was feeling so hostile toward me, I didn't really even know her since relatively speaking she was a generation below me.

_It's by age_. Tina explained so I took my place between Ariana and Marie.

_Looks like a guy finally came between you two._ Isaac Cameron teased.

_Why, you jealous Is?_ Marie demanded.

_Wish you were the one between us?_ Ariana added and the image that emerged in Isaac's mind made everyone laugh.

Well every one apart from Twain, who snarled as she lowered her head, pacing along the line.

_This ain't a tinker tape parade girlies, this is serious._ She said firmly.

_Seriously Twi? Chill._ Tina said. _We're all here, we're all in order, we're gonna run drills tonight. Team one, you're on the border, the rest of you will be fanning out in pairs checking points along the way._

_Essie's not hiding out there again is she?_ Marie asked excitedly.

_I doubt it, Billie's got school in the morning_. I stated.

_Yeah, that's right._ Tina said. _We haven't got anything to find, I just want to test your tracking skills._

_But how do we track if there's nothing to find?_ Isaac complained.

_Just report back anything that smells interesting and I'll let you know if it's worth following up. Or check with the older pack members since they know what they're doing._ Tina replied.

_Older pack members? Tony's ancient but he's not really been pack, too much leach about him._ Opal thought.

_Opal, enough of the tude_. Ariana snapped.

_Tony is a better tracker than you'll ever be, and unlike you losers he's actually taken down a vamp._ Marie added.

_Two all on his own and others at various other times._ Ariana continued.

_He even fought in the vampire war._ Marie finished.

_It was only one battle._ I said, worried about how Ariana and Marie were bigging up my resume because it wasn't putting Opal in her place but making her hate me more as a half vamp freak, and I really didn't get her antagonism because she didn't feel that way about Tina and Hunter. Just me.

_It was still a battle._ Marie said.

_You know I didn't fight;_ _Liza talked half the field out of fighting us so there wasn't much to do. Just round up those who surrendered._ I replied.

_You still saw more action than these pups._ Ariana stated.

_You killed one vampire once, between you, that don't make you Buffy._ Carla countered; she was Opal's best friend so it figured she would stand up for her.

_Children!_ Tina snapped. _This is a serious matter. You're not supposed to be letting your petty differences get in between us. As wolves we're supposed to be a well oiled, unified machine, so leave all your human bitching with your clothes and act like a pack._

They all fell into order and everyone pushed down human thoughts and got their act together. We were a pack and human affiliations didn't figure in here. That was the theory anyway, but I did wonder if maybe it was such a good idea for me to take over for Tina when there was a section of her pack that apparently hated me.

The running wasn't so bad, but Tina had put her paw down and so the pack obeyed out of respect for her. I could still feel the resentment Opal held for me, bubbling away in her mind, although I didn't know what she had against me exactly, I'd never said more than a hi to her at Quileute Day or other gatherings because she was so much younger than me. It really was strange and I probably should get to the bottom of it, but not tonight, I had to forget it until morning.

_Hey kid, wait up._ Tina called after we'd phased back that morning.

_What's wrong?_ I asked.

_You want to know what Opal's deal is?_ She asked.

_Yeah._ I confirmed.

_She blames you for her grandfather's death_. She stated.

_Embry's death?_ I asked in shock. _But didn't he die of a heart attack?_

_Yeah, he did._ Tina confirmed. _But others say it was more of a broken heart, he never got over Tammie's death._

_I know._ I said sadly, then it suddenly clicked. _She blames me for Tammie's death?_

_Yeah._

_But I didn't do anything to Tammie, if anything I got her rehabilitated. It was just tragic she was in the wrong place at the wrong time._ I observed.

_Opal was still a kid when that happened and all she knows is that her favourite person in the world was suddenly sad and all she got was half truth as explanation because how do you really explain all that shit to a child._ Tina replied.

_I guess you have a point there._ I said sadly. _I'll have to try and talk to her at some point outside of the pack. Explain myself._

_Yeah, but Opal is a stubborn one, so don't expect anything to happen over night. It might take some heroic act where you save her from certain death to do that. Even then I wouldn't be so sure._

_I'll talk to her, and if it doesn't work, well I'll ask Liza for advice._

_I hope you talk her around._ Tina said, slapping me on the back. "Well I guess I'll see you Wednesday night."

"Yep." I agreed before running on back to Grace, where I could forget about people who didn't like me for a few hours.

* * *

**Thank you for reading**

**Please review**

**Gemma x**


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